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T ons of T reasure 

A TALE OF ADVENTURE AND HONOR 

Being a new and improved edition of “ The Yellow Snake ” 




By William Henry Bishop 

AUTHOR or 

“Queer People/’ “Old Mexico and Her Lost Provinces,” 

“ Detmold,” etc. 

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NEW YORK AND LONDON 

STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS 

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CONGRESS. 

Two Copie* R ECP'vtr 

APR. 26 1902 

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CLASS CO xxa No. 
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Copyright, 1888, 

By J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO. 

Copyright, 1891, 

By UNITED STATES BOOK CO. 




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Copyright, 1902, 

By STREET & SMITH 


Tons of Treasure ( The Yellow Snake ) 

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TO 

EDWARD CARY, 

OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, MAN OF LETTERS, STOUT PALADIN 
OF CIVIL SERVICE REFORM, AND SECRETARY OF THE 
CENTURY CLUB, 

I beg to dedicate this book in its new and improved 
form, as witness to a friendship of long — yes, very 
long — standing. Tons of Treasure it is called , and 
my feeling is that his merit is worthy of far more 
than tons , not merely in this air-drawn literary 
way , but those of the tangible , recognized sort , were it 
possible to give them. 

WILLIAM HENRY BISHOP. 


Yale University , March 1, 1902. 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

The Young American Girl, .... 

CHAPTER H. 

The Yellow Snake is Heard Of, 

CHAPTER IIL 

At Las Delicias, 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Heart of the Earth, 

CHAPTER V. 

Gold, the Sun of Metals, 

CHAPTER VI. 

A Talk in the Stately Gardens, 

CHAPTER VII. 

Don Walter Sets Out for the United States, 

CHAPTER VIII. 


PAGE 

5 

. 17 

. 36 

. 48 

. 61 

. 77 

. 93 


In the Barranca of Cimarron, 


. 107 


4 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER IX. 

Perils and Alarms of the Barranca, 
CHAPTER X. 

Failure Superadded to Hardship, . 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Pilgrimage to El Jasmin, . 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Passion of Sister Beatriz de Rivera, . 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Captain Perez’s Revolution, . 

CHAPTER XIV. 

A Procession for Rain, 

CHAPTER XV. 

Corcovedo Swoops Down, . 

CHAPTER XVI. 

From Campo Florido to Lake Jornada, . 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Last Campaign, 

CHAPTER XVIII. 


PAGE 

. 119 

. 131 

. 150 

. 163 

. 178 

. 198 

. 213 

. 230 

. 248 


Minted Gold, 


262 


TONS OF TREASURE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE YOUNG AMERICAN GIRi;. 

In a small valley, making part of the southern 
slope of the central table-land of Mexico, lay a sort 
of earthly paradise, the estate, or hacienda, of Gen- 
eral Mariano del Prado. 

“Well is this hacienda called Las Delicias — the 
Place of Delights,” said Amy Colebrook. She was 
writing back an account of the ending of her long 
journey, to her cherished family in New York. 

And “ Well is it called Las Delicias,” repeated 
young Walter Arroyo, with particular emphasis, 
after the arrival of the pretty young American girl 
above named to make her visit there. 

“ The house,” continues our Amy Colebrook, 
“ stands in the most peculiar of situations. What 
will you do when I say it is in the crater of a vol- 


6 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


cano? There, there, don’t tremble just yet; wait 
till you hear the explanation. It is an extinct vol- 
cano, extinct for some thousand years. The sense 
of its past terrors but gives a greater zest to the 
present security. 

“ We came down to it from great heights,” she 
wrote. “ The diligencia that brought us from the 
city of Mexico bumped and shook us terribly, but I 
forgot all upon the view of this valley. We seemed 
to hang in mid-air, on the rough pass, and the 
forms and colors of the glorious prospect below us 
were all pale and misty, as if in a dream. 

“ ‘Cuernavaca !’ cried Luz, making out the domes 
of the town, which lay near a tract of sugar-cane of 
a more vivid green than the rest. 

“ Her eyes filled with tears at the sight of this 
her home, and she fairly broke down and sobbed 
on her father’s shoulder. Never have I felt more 
warmly toward the child. You know we thought 
her rather slow and dull at school. The girls at 
Mrs. Rush’s used to ridicule her stupidity, but I 
felt, even then, that much of it was due to the shy- 
ness of separation from her own country and lack 
of facility in our language. And, indeed, on this 
long jaunt of ours from New York, she has de- 
veloped many sweet, attractive qualities. I am sure 


THE YOUNG AMERICAN GIRL. 


7 


Luz (Light) — how unlike the name to her dark type 
and heavy over-developed figure — has the making 
of a charming woman in her yet. Lucky for me, 
was it not, I took this enlightened view of her, or 
I should never have been here. I am only too de- 
lighted to find I was right. Her gratitude for 
what little affection I showed her is really quite 
touching. And her father — well, the General is 
simply the nicest man in the world. He is some- 
what stolid and formal at first — you remember his 
daughter takes after him ; but, I assure you, he 
thinks of nothing but what charming, kind-hearted 
thing he can do for one next, 

" You know my old habit of digression, so 
don’t expect a straight story from me at this late 
day. I had meant to tell you about the house first, 
and then about the people. Well, at a little ham- 
let, of a few cane and adobe huts, with a ruined 
church, like an ancient abbey, in the midst, we 
were met by a cavalcade, consisting of Don Angel, 
the son of the house, and the dependants of the 
hacienda, come out to welcome us. Don Angel is 
a mere boy, perhaps eighteen. The horsemen had 
dismounted, and were resting under pleasant shade, 
where Indian women sold oranges and lemons from 
their own trees, but the moment of our arrival they 


8 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


leaped into the saddle and dashed along beside us 
in gallant style. They fired pistols in the air and 
made other demonstrations of joy that were almost 
terrifying. Their accoutrements — well, I send you 
herewith an aspiring attempt of my own in water- 
colors, to show some costumes of the country. The 
heavy spurs, the bands around their hats, and the 
rows of coins down the legs of their trousers are 
all in silver. 

“ I can’t get over even the old men’s wearing 
short jackets : you should see the rotund General 
in his ! 

“ One of the party, Don Walter Arroyo, looked 
particularly spirited on horseback. He was only 
an acquaintance, it appeared, who happened to be 
there at the time, and came along with the rest. 
But my attention was drawn away from their ec- 
centricities by our arrival at the Cerro. We 
rode through flowering hedges and shaded lanes, 
and presently there was the stately, long, low, 
white mansion before us. 

“ The Cerro is a truncated cone of some three or 
four hundred feet in height. One side has been 
tom away, probably by the force of an ancient 
flow of lava, and discloses to view what was once 
the crater, but is now a natural bowl of exquisite 


THE YOUNG AMERICAN GIRL. 


9 


verdure, with soft and pleasing slopes. In the cen- 
tre of this open side, at the top of a gentle rise of 
ground, receiving the breeze only from the most 
favored quarters, and sheltered against every in- 
clemency, stands the imposing residence, spacious, 
sculptured, battlemented, and loop-holed against 
attack, and with a gabled belfry in which hang 
two tiers of old bronze bells to summon to chapel 
or sound tocsins. 

“ The emerald bowl, perhaps half a mile in 
diameter, which was once so terrible, is now fertile 
with crops and gardens, merging near the top into 
the darker green of rich forest growth, and presents 
a scene of peculiarly quiet beauty. At one place 
only is a trace of roughness, in some basaltic cliffs. 
From a hot spring at their feet waver up thin 
wreaths of steam. Behind the Cerro are tall and 
savage mountains, of which it is a spur, and up 
among them, at a great distance, you see the white 
thread of a water-fall. There was a beautiful light 
over everything when we drew near, the flocks and 
herds were coming home, and the bells of the ha- 
cienda struck with a musical chiming. 

“ I marvelled to find this palatial abode set down 
in the very jaws of destruction as it were. A most 
intelligent young man — the Mr. Arroyo who had 


10 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


happened there by accident — rode beside me and 
explained the character of the site. He spoke 
English, with a good deal of accent, and was put 
forward as interpreter by the rest. 

“‘There are a great many such hills scattered 
about here; you will often see them,’ he said. 
‘ They are probably offshoots of Popocatepetl [the 
great peak towering snowy white on our far hori- 
zon], thrown up by the elemental fires that had be- 
gun to abate there. I have not been abroad, but I 
have heard from travellers that there are plenty of 
similar hills in Auvergne and near Naples. A 
king of Naples used to keep his deer in a crater- 
ring something like the Cerro : he had only to 
close one side with a gate, and his deer - park 
was complete. And these old volcanic cinder- 
heaps make the very choicest soil for vineyards 
and gardens.’ 

“‘Yes,’ I answered — sighing, I am afraid — ‘I 
have never been abroad, either, but I have heard 
my father tell of drinking the delicious Lacryma 
Christi wine from the slopes of Vesuvius.’ 

“ So, my dear old family, I had to admit at once 
that this was my first venture into the great world 
of travel and romance after which my vagrant 
spirit so greatly hankers. However, it is an oppor- 


THE YOUNG AMERICAN GIRL . 


11 


tunity that bids fair to make up for all past depri- 
vations. You will think it shocking, but I have 
hardly had time as yet to be homesick. I am not 
sure but I am grateful even for the ailments that 
reconciled you to letting me come home with the 
kind General and his daughter, to try the effect of 
their milder climate. I am far better already ; you 
would hardly know me. 

“ I stop a dozen times a day and cry out at all 
this loveliness around me in enforced wonderment, 
‘ Oh, beautiful ! Oh, beautiful ! ’ 

“ What a sweet and perfumed air ! What deli- 
cious gardens, what terraces and statues, in the 
old-fashioned style of foreign palaces ! What fish- 
ponds with carp, what fountains, what labyrinths, 
and clipped alleys! What thickets of laurel and 
myrtle, with roses and oranges, amid the glossy 
dark green, like red and golden lamps ! My dear, 
old, commonplace, poverty-stricken family, how am 
I ever to like you again ? Have you by any chance 
an hacienda ten miles wide by twenty long, sloping 
in such a way that it possesses several different 
climates all its own, from temperate to torrid, and 
grows the choicest productions of each? Have 
you herds on a thousand hills, and employees like 
an army? Have you a mcijovdomoj a bookkeeper, 


12 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


and half a dozen other principal subordinates be- 
fore the ordinary servants begin ? Have you gran- 
aries like monumental halls, and buildings that 
cover in their totality some acres of ground ? Very 
well, then. 

“ No, you have only a little flat up near Central 
Park, with perhaps the prettiest portieres and blue 
china in New York, it is true, but still very high in 
the air, and lacking bedrooms enough for the com- 
fortable accommodation of my numerous brothers 
and sisters. Ah, but in spite of what I say, I only 
wish I were there with you this very minute. Not 
one of you but deserves the pleasure I am having 
much better than myself. Ah ! well, perhaps better 
things are in store for us yet. Why must people be 
cruel and unscrupulous ? Why could not dishonest 
trustees have taken some other people’s money in- 
stead of ours ? Not that I want cm?/body’s to be 
taken, but there are so many that put money only to 
vulgar and ostentatious uses. Do you know I often 
think we are just the ones to have it ? — disinter- 
ested, isn’t it ? We like nice things, we have re- 
fined tastes, haven’t we? — I am sure we do more 
now, with our wretched little makeshifts, to keep 
up a figure in the world, than many with large in- 
comes. Of course it isn’t so hard for me, because 


THE YOUNG AMERICAN GIRL. 13 

I have always been used to it, the troubles hap- 
pened before my time ; but I often think how you, 
dear mamma, must suffer, who once had everything 
so very different. Why are there not benevolent rich 
people to find out the case of nice, deserving fam- 
ilies whose money was made away with by faithless 
trustees, and in some artful way set them on their 
feet again? That would be true charity. I am 
sure I should like nothing better than playing 
the good fairy in that way. Well, well, this is a 
long way off to write you about matters we have 
discussed a thousand times at home. You will 
think your Amy could hardly have gone farther 
and fared worse, if so overcome by the opulence of 
her Mexican hosts. 

“ I asked ‘ Don ’ Walter Arroyo — their Don 
means only our Mr., though it always seems as if it 
ought to mean a great deal more — if we were likely 
to be blown up some fine day, living so recklessly 
in the crater of a volcano. 

“ He answered, smiling at my idea : ‘ You see the 
rather permanent look of things around us, and 
even Popocatepetl has shown no eruption for thou- 
sands of years.’ 

“ ‘ All the more reason,’ I maintained, for there 
was an irony in his tone. And really I have only 


14 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


lately begun to get over breathing hard on this 
account, and lying awake of nights about it. 

“ * You will not deny that such things can happen 
and have happened ? ’ I went on, more seriously. 

‘ Before Vesuvius broke out and swallowed up 
Pompeii the ancients looked upon it as wholly ex- 
tinct, never thought of it in any other way. Spar- 
tacus was besieged by a Boman army, on a plain 
that then existed in the top of it. The wonder to 
me is that people ever get up confidence enough to 
do anything at all in such insecure places.’ 

“ Don Walter Arroyo looked a little surprised at 
the extent of my reading — as, to tell the truth, I 
was myself. 

“ * These are some of the small risks one takes in 
life,’ he said, by no means overcome with terror. 
‘ And you do the poor earthquakes and volcanoes 
injustice. They have many good points, after all.’ 

“ ‘ Such as what ? ’ 

“ ‘ They are a vent for the surplus heat, and they 
keep up the necessary inequalities of the earth’s 
surface, which otherwise would soon be worn down 
by the elements as smooth as a billiard-ball.’ 

“ ‘ They ought to honor their able defender by 
special exemptions, if opportunity offers.’ 

“It was a long time since I had teased anybody, 


THE YOUNG AMERICAN GIRL. 


15 


and I felt like practising a little on one who ap- 
peared to deserve it. 

“ He only bowed, in his smiling way, and con- 
cluded with this, which I thought quite striking : 

“ ‘For my part, I am not so much surprised at 
the instability of the earth as its stability. It is 
one vast net-work of cracks, and it is never quiet, 
yet the amusing thing is the way men and their 
works stick on, in spite of its efforts to shake them 
off We ride the earth as a vaquero rides an obsti- 
nate, bucking pony, yet rarely come to grief.’” 

To another person, nearly of her own age, a cer- 
tain Emily Winchester, this sprightly correspond- 
ent repeated substantially the same account, 
dwelling a little more fully on the young man who 
had looked so particularly well on horseback. 

“ There is little society, it seems,” she said ; “the 
places are far apart, and the people have had so 
many feuds and revolutions. He does some kind 
of surveying for the General : so I suppose he will 
come back again, and is likely to be one of our 
visitors. He is really very handsome, and you 
know your friend Amy likes that. Shall I ever 
forget our silliness over Montague ? How many of 
us were there who used to adore his photograph 
and post ourselves in front seats at his matinees ? 


16 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


Senor Don Walter Arroyo — I like the solid air of 
the simple ‘Walter’ added to the romantic sur- 
name — is half, or even wholly, American. I don’t 
understand all the circumstances, but he was 
brought up by relations, three old maiden ladies, 
in the next town. They live on a small income, 
and he looks after some of their property. He has 
had a scientific education, but I believe does not 
practise any profession regularly. 

“ When I say he is handsome I do not mean that 
there is anything conscious of it or finical about 
him ; on the contrary, he has a strong, manly air ; 
there is a certain plainness, if you see what I mean, 
in all his good looks. Is this enough about a man 
I have met only once ? What think you, if I mar- 
ry a Fra Diavolo-sort of husband and settle down 
here in the tropics? But what is the use of being 
girls if we cannot be nonsensical once in a while ? 
Not that society, to be serious again, is of the 
least consequence here, for besides this heavenly 
place, I have all the surrounding hamlets and the 
little provincial city to explore. The few months of 
my visit will pass only too quickly. I have not left 
the hacienda as yet, but to-morrow or next day we go 
to Cuernavaca. It is about four miles away, and the 
small village of Campo Florido lies between.” 


CHAPTER n. 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OP. 

On the next day but one, in fact, the family drove 
into town, in their ramshackle conveyance, with 
two mozos riding as servants and guards behind 
them. It was ramshackle not for want of a better, 
since they had the most modish of everything in 
their stables at the capital, but on account of the 
condition of the roads in a country where most 
of the travelling was done on horseback. 

The del Prados sat in it beaming with an air of 
benevolent contentment while the various commis- 
sions were accomplished. The market-arcades, gay 
as a scene at the opera, the bizarre figures, the 
great ruddy water- jars, drew forth the admiration 
of Amy. For her the most ordinary details of 
common life were full of interest, the theatre, the 
hotel, the municipal building, a few soldiers prac- 
tising on their bugles before it, and particularly 
some prisoners working on the pavements, under 

guard, who frightened her. 

2 


18 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


The Madre (Mother), as they call the Senora del 
Prado — often varying it with the affectionate di- 
minutives of Madrecita and Mamacita — assisted by 
her daughter, explained everything. She was an 
old lady, with bright eyes, a large mouth, iron-gray 
hair, and, at a first glance, a rather stem look on 
her dark face ; but this was misleading, for there 
was really no unpleasant sternness about her. She 
was of a more conservative cast than the General, 
coming from one of the old aristocratic “ Mocho ” 
families, and having her sympathies still strongly 
bound up with them, while her husband — though 
he too, to be sure, was of as ancient a lineage — was 
an enlightened member of the party of progress 
and liberal ideas. Such intermarriages were not in- 
frequent in the country. The feminine conserva- 
tive notions generally had to give way, though 
making themselves much felt under the surface. 

They stopped at the drug-store, with its colored 
bottles, the grocer’s, with his long rows of white 
tapers suspended in his door, and then turned 
down a side street to a little shop where dried rose- 
leaves and all kinds of dried herbs, medicinal and 
culinary, were exposed for sale. Just coming out 
of this shop as they reached it were two women in 
a garb resembling that of nuns, yet retaining about 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 19 

it something secular. One of them had a perfectly 
charming face, young, roseate, demure, draped in a 
dark shawl heavier than the usual mantilla. The 
other was middle-aged, plain, raw-boned, an entirely 
matter-of-fact-looking person. 

The Senora del Prado spoke to them very 
kindly. She made Amy acquainted with them, 
introducing the younger one as Sister Beatriz, and 
the other as Sister Praxedis. 

“And what brings you to town to-day?” she 
asked them. 

“We have sold some of our embroideries and 
herbs,” answered Beatriz. 

“ I am so sorry that we have not room for you 
in our carriage, that we might drive you home.” 

“ We do not mind the walk ; we are well used to 
it. Besides, we are not going yet,” said Praxedis. 
Her eyes wandered to the belfry clock of an old, 
half-ruined church across the way, beautiful in de- 
cay, like a myriad more throughout the land. 

“ Ah, yes, you go and pray sometimes in the gar- 
den of your former convent ? ” 

“ But before that we are going to breakfast with 
the Senoritas Arroyo. Many of our friends are 
very kind to us,” and they passed on. 

“ The aunts of Don Walter. There are three of 


20 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


them ; and also three of these sisters — Doha Cata- 
lina is left at Lome. They consort much together,” 
said the Madre , “ The Senoritas Arroyo are good 

women. They > nust have been very hard to suit 
in their youth. Some say their father did not wish 
them to marry, and used all his influence against 
it. They have rather spoiled their nephew by 
want of firmness. He is too wild a colt for them 
to manage, though he’s a favorite of mine, and 
has many fine qualities.” 

“ There is Don Walter himself ! ” exclaimed Luz, 
pointing him out. 

“ Yes, with Captain Francisco Perez again. 
That man will bring him to no good.” 

They saw Walter riding into the street in dusty 
attire, beside a man much older than himself, who ' 
was mounted on a large powerful charger, direct- 
ing from time to time a number of peons, clad 
in white cotton, bringing along agricultural im- 
plements. 

“That man looks like a bandit,” said Amy. 

“ But so did all the others at first : I suppose he 
is no worse than the rest.” 

“ He has been,” responded the Madre , “ and I 
can’t conceive why Walter associates with him.” 

“ I’ve seen the time, during my term as gov- 




THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 21 

emor, when I should have had him shot at a mo- 
ment’s notice, if I could have laid hands upon him,” 
said the General, rousing from his taciturnity to 
confirm this opinion. 

“ And now just because he pretended to devote 
himself to the service of the existing government in 
the last part of the troubles — it was always one 
for them and two for himself, I’ll warrant — they 
let him settle down as a respectable ranchero and 
honored member of society. I declare it’s too bad 
to see him allowed to lead a young man like that 
astray. There’s no telling what mischief they two 
are up to together.” 

Don Walter now discovered them, rode forward 
and greeted them with a fine, deferential, easy air. 
Senora del Prado shook her finger at him and 
taxed him with his bad company. 

“ On the contrary,” said he, “ I have been away 
engaged in finishing the survey of the northern 
boundary of your estate, ever since I saw you last, 
and I met Captain Perez just here by accident. 
The General’s unexpected return reminded me of 
my negligence. I should have had the work done 
before now.” 

“ Then I hold you excused,” said the Madre, ex- 
tending her hand to him in a friendly way. 


22 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ Shall I do myself the honor of waiting on you 
to-morrow, to present my report, General ? ” 

“ To-morrow if you please ; my house is always 
yours.” 

Don Walter, before riding away, apologized for 
his travel-stained appearance. His work had been 
in rough places, in the thick mountain-forests and 
along the Barranca of Cimarron, seldom visited. 
His eyes rested with respectful admiration, which 
he made efforts to check, upon the fair aspect of 
Amy, as he talked. He paid her some well-turned 
compliments, which the most decorously brought 
up young woman could hardly fail to find pleasant. 

“ Do not be ensnared by him,” said the General, 
by way of playful warning ; “ the blond type of 
beauty is rare among us, and you can expect here 
plenty of floras. Compliments, literally flowers, 
will be cheap.” 

They stayed awhile at the herb-shop, and then 
stopped to buy shoes under the sign of “The 
Boot of Venus,” which consumed a good deal more 
time. 

Meanwhile Don Walter had dismounted at a 
small new fonda or restaurant under the columned 
portals that ran round the principal square. This 
place had lately been opened by one Antonio Gas- 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 23 

sol, a former employee of the hacienda of Las De- 
licias, as a rival to the fonda of the Bella Union , at 
the opposite corner. 

“ What can you give me for a bite of breakfast ? ” 
demanded the customer, sliding easily into a chair 
by a small table. 

The landlord assured him that everything in the 
earth, air, and sea was at his command, but the 
best dish ready at the moment was a very fine pu- 
chero y or general stew. 

“ Bring it on, then. W T hat news here of late ? ” 

“ For one thing, General del Prado has returned 
from the United States. He drove through the 
plaza awhile ago.” 

“ Yes, I knew he was back.” 

“ And he has brought with him the handsomest 
young girl of all the Norte — a friend of his daugh- 
ter’s, so some acquaintances at the hacienda tell 
me. Her hair that falls down her back is as 
bright as so many sunbeams. My, but she’s a 
beauty! She’s prettier than that picture over 
there.” 

“ Hombre ! ” (Man !) exclaimed Walter, in af- 
fected astonishment. The picture referred to was 
in fact a wretched daub representing the Mexican 
goddess of liberty, frescoed on the wall back of 


24 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


the counter, whence pulque, the native beverage, 
was chiefly dispensed. 

“I swear it by my head and the merits of all 
my defunct relations,” cried Antonio Gassol, en- 
thusiastically. 

“ And how is it with yourself?” pursued the 
visitor, affably, having heard sufficient on this sub- 
ject. 

“ Oh, I ? I am having much trouble just now on 
account of my new sign. I expect the men here 
every minute to put it up. Are you a good judge 
in those matters ? ” 

“ Oh, so so ; perhaps as good as another.” 

“ Well, you see, I want the title of my place to 
give satisfaction, and it’s cost me many a good 
night’s sleep to pick out just the right one. A 
title may make or mar an inn. I’ve known it done 
before.” 

“ And what did you settle upon ? ” 

“ La Alma de Mexico (the Soul of Mexico). But 
there are so many others that might have been 
chosen. How would ‘ The Ancient Glory of 
Mexico ’ strike you ? That has a more sonorous 
sound. Then there was the ‘ Sun of May ; ’ ‘ The 
Spring ; ’ ‘ The Diana ; ’ 4 The Great Mississippi ; ’ 
‘ The ’ ” 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 25 

But here the men arrived with the sign, and he 
broke off, rushing out to meet them. Don Walter, 
having finished his repast, followed, more at leis- 
ure. By that time a little crowd had gathered. 
General del Prado was passing again. Antonio 
Gassol ran into the street, challenged his attention, 
and brought the carriage to the door almost by 
force. 

“ Will you do me the great favor, my General,” 
he cried, “to give me your honored opinion? 
Some of the boys object to my sign. There it is, 
and a neat bit of work too, if I may say so my- 
self.” 

“ So it is neat, so it is neat,” assented the Gen- 
eral, with a sort of fatherly interest in the fortunes 
of his late servant that was pleasant to observe. 

“ There, you see, boys ! I couldn’t please you 
all, could I ? I wanted to do what was right and 
fair all round, you can understand that for your- 
selves, but I had to make a choice, hadn’t I ? ” 

“ What is the question at issue, friend Antonio ? 
we shall never get on at this rate,” said the Gen- 
eral. 

“ Some of them objected that La Alma de Mex- 
ico was too old, and that many fondas had that 
name already.” 


26 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ They have,” spoke a voice from the crowd in a 
disgusted tone, “ there are more than a million Al- 
mas de Mexico in the country now.” 

“Ah! that is you, Perfecto Ponce; you are 
there, are you? You were the principal one. 
What do you think lie wanted? Why, that I 
should take a tradition of the district he and I 
come from, and call the place ‘ The Famous Yellow 
Snake.’ He argues that this would be something 
especially appropriate, as belonging to our own 
part of the country. I say it would bring us bad 
luck.” 

“There was a little fonda of that name up at 
Huetongo that did very well, and you know it. 
Many’s the cup of pulque we’ve drunk there to- 
gether. Besides, if there’s any evil influence afloat 
you want to conciliate it, don’t you ? Politeness is 
not thrown away, I suppose, even on bad tradi- 
tions,” Perfecto Ponce argued back. 

“ I don’t see where the novelty comes in, then. 
And in a city something more civilized is needed. 
But one of you chooses one thing, and another an- 
other : even if I agreed with Ponce, the rest would 
all have their own ideas.” 

“ I prefer 'El Demonio ,’ or 'El Delirio ,’ ” spoke 
up a new voice. “ I have known those titles to sue- 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 27 


ceed finely. They have a bold sound, and give an 
air of excitement like.” 

“ There, you see ” 

But at this moment the Jefe Politico, an officer 
corresponding somewhat to a mayor, but with a 
wider jurisdiction, came up. He was a pompous, 
self-sufficient, stupid person, and the subject of 
controversy had to be restated for his ears. He 
had, in truth, an interest of his own in the Bella 
Union, opposite, and looked with no favor upon 
the new enterprise. Nevertheless, feeling the eyes 
of his fellow - citizens upon him, he assumed a 
weighty, judicial air, as if considering a case of the 
most important bearings. 

“ The point is right here ; here is the issue,” 
he began, placing a forefinger in the palm of his 
hand. “ I can tell you absolutely everything. 
For instance — names were invented in early 
times — names come down to us from historic 
ages. All men and nations have made use of 
them. Very well, then — ” And so on and so 
forth, with a long tissue of the most hopeless, 
undeniable commonplaces, and even these un- 
finished. 

If the point were indeed in the palm of his fat 
hand, it stayed there ; for he made no further 


28 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


progress with his argument. The crowd began to 
show impatience. 

“ I had many other names,” said Gassol, seizing 
an opportunity eagerly. “There was also ‘The 
Aurora,’ ‘ The Fountain of Love.’ ” 

“ Why not ‘ The Fountain,’ pure and simple ? ” 
interposed Don Walter, mockingly. “ A great fut- 
ure awaits the tavern-keeper who will honestly 
confess to watering his liquids.” And he hummed 
the words of a popular air — 

“ El pulquero que lo intiende 
Mas aqua que pulque vende. ” 

(“The pulque-dealer who understands his business 
more water than pulque sells.”) 

The Jefe seemed to take this levity as a kind of 
offence levelled at himself. 

‘ “ Bella Union ’ is the most excellent of titles for 
a fonda ; you might learn of your neighbors,” said 
he, with the nearest approach to coherence he had 
yet made. 

He strode off to mount his horse, thereupon, but 
with such rough inadvertence that his heavy spurs 
struck the naked legs of Trinidad Jose, one of the 
mozos accompanying the del Prados, and caused 
that worthy to wince with pain. 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 29 

“ Old fraud ! old ruffian ! ” murmured Trinidad 
Jose, looking after him indignantly; “but I know 
of something that will get me even with you yet.” 

“ Well, now your sign is all nicely painted and 
put up, isn’t it ? ” said General Del Prado sooth- 
ingly to Antonio Gassol, and preparing to drive on. 
“What if it has been heard before and isn’t 
exactly original ? A great many people will like it 
all the better for that.” 

“There, you see? I told you so,” Gassol could 
be heard saying, behind them. 

“What is all this about a Yellow Snake? it 
seems as if I recollected hearing of it,” demanded 
the General. 

“ I am the one to apply to — fresh from that lo- 
cality,” responded Walter, who rode again beside 
the carriage. “ The story prevails chiefly among 
the poor Indian population of charcoal-burners on 
the way to the desolate Barranca of Cimarron. 
They believe some ancient deity appears in that 
gorge under the form of a serpent and brings bad 
luck to whoever sets eyes upon him.” 

Senorita Luz crossed herself. Her New York 
education had not yet wholly changed her simple 
ways. 

“ I suppose it is only a vestige of the worship of 


30 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


the god Quetzalcoatl,” Walter continued. “ One of 
his titles was ‘ The Shining Snake.’ He is the god 
in whose day the cotton used to grow ready dyed 
in gorgeous hues, and a single ear of corn was pro- 
vision enough for a family.” 

“ Those people are half idolaters yet,” said the 
General, in a fatigued way, “ though they have 
been Christians three hundred years.” 

“To be sure they are. They have caves with 
altars in them that divide their worship with the 
churches; and how often are idols found in the 
maguey-fields, to which they furtively pay their 
devotions? ” 

“ Dios mio ! ” murmured the Senora, piously. 

“ The secret of keeping up the tradition so long 
is probably that scarcely anyone has ever been 
down there to test it ; for the place is all but in- 
accessible,” said Walter Arroyo. 

The mozo Trinidad Jose, who had worked as 
near as possible to the conversation, upon this 
touched his hat respectfully, and ventured : 

“ I have been there, and I know it is unlucky.” 

“ You have been there — you, Trinidad Jose ? ” 

“ I blundered into it once on a hunting-trip, 
when I was a young man, from the other end 
near the lake.” 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 31 


“ And what happened to you ? ” 

“ Nothing happened to me, but the day after my 
return the English governess and many of the ani- 
mals were killed by lightning.” 

“ Was she governess of your family, I’d like to 
know ? ” 

“No, she was educating the children at the haci- 
enda — you know it very well, General,” returned 
the mozo , reproachfully; “but she died under a 
tree near my corral.” 

The family told Amy about this young English- 
woman. She had arrived and begun her labors 
but a few weeks before her death, and she was 
buried under the tree where she had met her fate. 

After that subject, Amy asked more about the 
nun, or half-nun, Beatriz, whose sweet face had in- 
terested her. 

“ You know of course that all of the convents 
were abolished here ? ” began Senora del Prado. 

“ No, I am sorry to say, I did not know it.” 

“ Not even the Sisters of Charity were exempt- 
ed. Our odious so-called c Laws of Beform ’ ” 

“ Lucetta ! ” expostulated her husband. 

“ Well, they permit no more than three of these 
ex-nuns to live together even in secular life,” she 
continued, more temperately. “ Dona Beatriz, 


32 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


only a novice, just beginning her religious life 
when this cruel edict was enforced, was one of those 
thrown out into the heartless world. Two others 
live with her, at Campo Florido. We do all we 
can for the poor things,” sighing, “ and but for our 

husbands who make the laws Well, amor de 

Bios ! ” 

Don Walter Arroyo, after leaving the party, had 
ridden to his own home in the quiet plazuela of 
San Ysidro. The two ex-nuns, having breakfasted 
there, were just coming out as he entered the great 
green door leading to an inner courtyard. 

“ Ah, if I had only known what company was 
here, I should not have been so late,” he said, ap- 
plying even to them the tone of courteous compli- 
ment that was natural to him with women. 

Dona Praxedis was no doubt beyond the reach 
of all such blandishments, but the younger, Dona 
Beatriz, gave him a smile of much favor, and even 
colored a little. 

“ We can hardly expect you to arrive at a fixed 
hour after so long a journey, my dear Walter,” said 
Miss Concepcion, the eldest of the three Arroyo 
sisters. “ And you shall still have your breakfast.” 

“I have already breakfasted, so as not to put 
you out.” 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 33 

He went to his chamber, which the kind care of 
the spinsters had made perhaps the pleasantest in 
the house, and passed some hours there nervously 
arranging the notes of his survey and other papers. 
When he issued forth again, he threw himself at 
full length upon a settee in the large, cool, brick- 
floored parlor, and began to talk in a discontented 
way, that by degrees grew feverish, of his prospects 
in life. 

“I sometimes think it might be a little better if 
you hunted less with Captain Perez,” began Miss 
Maruca, the second sister, with mild reproach. 

“ He is the best shot and boldest rider in the 
district,” he answered, as if that were a sufficient 
response. 

“But really such a companionship must have 
a certain unsettling influence,” she pleaded, gently. 
“ It must make you less energetic in business mat- 
ters.” 

“Captain Perez is the very best fellow in the 
world ; if others wish to talk against him, I will 
not hear it. His kindness to me commenced even 
when I was a poor, friendless little chap, in the 
gloomy ruin at Bosales ; and he has done me many 
a good turn since.” 

“ And you still remember Bosales so well ? ” in- 
3 


34 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


quired Miss Ysabel, the youngest. There was a 
certain spice of curiosity in her tone. 

“ How can I ever forget it ? Nothing else will 
ever stamp itself so vividly upon my memory. Do 
I not know why we lived that way ? do I not know 
why my father fled from the United States and 
concealed himself there ? ” 

“It was a great misfortune, a great misfortune,” 
she sighed. “ I have always thought your father 
should never have told you : there was no need of 
his doing so.” 

“ Should he have left me to discover it for my- 
self. No, indeed, it was plainly his duty. If he 
could not put me in a position to redeem the 
crushing disgrace, he could at least save me from 
intruding upon the scene of it. Oh, they hissed 
him there in the streets in New York,” he went on, 
fiercely. “ Some of his victims would have killed 
him if they could. He told me all — all ! ” 

He groaned aloud as he drifted along with less 
and less self-control upon a flood of painful recol- 
lections to which he rarely committed himself so 
fully. 

“No, no, do not talk so! Why will you recall 
it? who knows the story here? No one can ever 
say it was any fault of yours. All will come right 


THE YELLOW SNAKE IS HEARD OF. 35 

in due time,” the listeners expostulated, keenly 
suffering with him. 

“ Three millions of money to be made good, and 
as much more for accrued interest; and all that 
wrong and suffering to be atoned for before I can 
stand squarely on my feet like other men ! ” he ex- 
claimed, summing up all his grief in one final state- 
ment. 

He was given to alternate moods of brightness 
and depression, but they had never seen him so 
downcast as now. The Senorita Concepcion went 
over to the gloomy figure, who lay with his head 
deeply buried in the pillows as if to shut out the 
world, and sat by him a long time, stroking his hair 
soothingly. 

“ What a misfortune ! What a misfortune ! ” the 
three ancient sisters murmured sadly to one another 
many times that night, as they made their maidenly 
preparations for slumber. 


CHAPTER m. 


AT LAS DEL I C I A S . 

When Walter arrived at Las Delicias on the mor- 
row he surprised a little scene not quite meant for 
public view. In the long drawing-room, a noble 
apartment, furnished in the style of the First Em- 
pire, Luz and her younger sisters were trying upon 
Amy the effect of the graceful mantilla, which in 
Spanish countries replaces the conventional bonnet. 
The black lace set off charmingly her bright hair 
and fell down over a fawn-colored gown which fitted 
very smoothly her comely waist, rounded shoulders, 
and arms. 

At sight of Walter she would have hastily pulled 
off the veil ; the others would not have it so, but 
invited his criticism. Thereupon she resigned her- 
self helplessly, as it were, to their hands. 

Walter, still downcast, was quieter than usual. 
It was the General, coming in also, who lavished 
most of the compliments. 


AT LAS DELIGIAS. 37 

“ She gives our little Mexicans lessons in wear- 
ing their own costume,” said the General. 

They kept Walter to midday breakfast. Gradu- 
ally his spirits revived. 

“ After all,” he said, “ why not enjoy at least the 
few pleasures fate provides for one ? ” 

The repast over, his papers were spread out upon 
a table placed in an open corridor around the cen- 
tral court, in which a fountain played. The family 
gathered there also to hear the reading of the re- 
port. One might glance over at the opposite wall, 
ornamented with patterns like those of the Ducal 
Palace at Venice, its carved cornice and gargoyles 
terminating in a strip of blue sky, blue as lapis la- 
zuli, or might catch through the spacious rear por- 
tal alluring glimpses of the greenery of the gar- 
dens. There was first a wide, sunny parterre, en- 
amelled with flower-beds, mingled thinly with the 
fragrant lemon and limoncillo. With a tall, clipped 
hedge began the grateful shade of the gardens 
proper. “ The hacienda,” said Amy, “ was like those 
characters which do not display themselves to every 
comer, but reserve their choicest qualities only for 
their intimates.” 

“ I find, in conclusion, General, that your line 
follows the lava-bed to the hither edge of the Bar- 


38 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


ranca of Cimarron, but does not take in that savage 
chasm,” said Don Walter. 

“ Are you sure ? ” 

“ I have verified the survey very carefully.” 

“ Well, a good riddance to bad rubbish. So even 
your Yellow Snake does not belong to us after all, 
eh ? it goes to neighbor Garcia, I suppose ? ” 

“ Why, no, not to him either. I did the same 
sort of work for him a couple of years ago, and his 
boundary stops short of the other side of it. So 
the space covered by the Barranca, with a little 
more, is a sort of No Man’s Land, to be contended 
for most likely by the state and general govern- 
ment, if they want it.” 

“ It isn’t at all strange : a little land more or less 
has been of no account here,” said the General, ex- 
plaining to Amy. “ I will tell you how the titles 
were established in this region. A viceroy would 
ride up to a hill-top with a friend or client and say, 
‘I give you all the land you can see from here.’ 
Then he would ride up another hill, not far from the 
first, with another friend, and say to him, £ I give you 
all the land you can see from here,’ or perhaps, ‘ as 
far as you can ride in half a day’s journey.’ Thus, 
you observe, there was room for overlapping, and 
some confusion might easily arise.” 


AT LAS D ELIO I AS. 


39 


General del Prado was so well pleased with the 
result shown him that he desired to have Walter 
next undertake an accurate plotting of various ir- 
regular parcels of cultivated ground and pasture- 
land on the hacienda. The young man was de- 
lighted at the opportunity: nothing could have 
been more after his own heart. 

This employment gave him association with Amy 
in the freest, most natural way. He often re- 
mained over night, and in the evening there was 
informal dancing in the long parlor, or she played 
for them the national airs of her country or their 
own. She commended herself to her hosts by her 
ready enthusiasm ; they were genuinely pleased to 
hear her declare many things in Mexico much 
better than in the United States. 

“ You understand how to make life dignified and 
stately,” she told them, “ and that our Americans, 
with all their expenditure, hardly ever attain.” 

The leaning to the picturesque and decorative 
was strongly developed with her. She went about 
with little sketch-books, in which she put down 
odd bits, with a most tangible enjoyment to herself. 

“It is like living in a picture-land,” said she. 
“ Fancy my waking up in a room with a saint and 
cherubim in the comer, and in a bed standing on a 


40 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


dais ! Sometimes I get up very early in the morn- 
ing and climb the staircase to the bells. I like to 
sit there and look off at the fresh lovely landscape, 
with the great bell just over my head helping to 
frame the prospect in. Even the kitchen has a vast 
hooded chimney and blue tiles. I feel as if some- 
thing historic or fairy-like must certainly happen 
to me in this place.” 

“ I can hardly appreciate the novelties you dwell 
upon, having seen so little else,” said Don Walter. 

He was led on to question her with interest as 
to the appearance of things in the United States, 
about which the recollections of his infancy were 
exceedingly vague. He was evasive, and checked 
himself, however, when there seemed any approach 
toward declaring under what circumstances he had 
left the great republic of the North. 

They rode together a good deal about the haci- 
enda. The ladies of the family sometimes accom- 
panied Walter, and sometimes repaired to meet 
him, under proper guard, at the curious points — 
some distant corral, or aqueduct, or an irrigating 
pond, large enough for a lake, where he was at 
work. Amy had looked forward to mounting in 
the saddle — in which she had had but slight expe- 
rience — with a kind of longing dread, but, the ice 


AT LAS DELIGIAS. 41 

once broken, she made up in courage what she 
lacked in practice. 

Young Walter thought her black English habit, 
with the high silk hat, from which floated a blue 
gauze veil like a light smoke, even more delightful 
than her costumes of every day. 

But then to him the latest was always the most 
delightful. 

They two, as Americans — to whom all things are 
open — were allowed greater freedom than might 
otherwise have been the case. The family thought 
good to warn Amy of Don Walter’s rather improvi- 
dent character, and said he would not be a good 
match, in the pecuniary way, but they were reas- 
sured by her quiet smile, and felt that this compan- 
ionship was harmless. It was only a part of her 
enjoyable zest in the novelty of Mexico. And be- 
sides, their attention was somewhat drawn away 
from it by a matrimonial prospect of very especial 
interest to themselves. 

The Jefe Politico Senor Corcovedo, taken with a 
fancy for Senorita Luz, young as she was, though 
he himself was a widower, of more than twice her 
age, was coming to the hacienda to pay her his 
court. 

“ He is too, too ugly, with his odious high cheek- 


42 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


bones and great yellow teeth, like a gorilla’s, and he 
is stupid and without manners,” objected Senorita 
Luz, aroused on this score at least to plenty of vi- 
vacity. 

There were stories, too, of repulsive cruelties he 
had perpetrated in the wars. He was an ignorant, 
self-made man, who had pushed himself to the front 
and feathered his nest in the political troubles. 
Still, he was a person of much consideration; he 
stood high with the government, being sustained 
by the favor of prominent persons of the radical 
wing at Mexico, and General del Prado, on grounds 
of worldly policy, thought well to give him ample 
opportunity in his suit, fancying possibly the re- 
luctance of his daughter might yet be overcome. 
This daughter too — since he was her first suitor, 
even though a repulsive one — was not so uncivil to 
him as her words might indicate. 

Meanwhile, Amy had not forgotten the sweet- 
looking nun she had met at Cuernavaca, a figure by 
whose appearance and unusual history she had been 
particularly struck. Senora del Prado took her to 
see the embroideries of the ex-Sisters, and she 
sometimes returned to them alone. They lived in 
a pleasant one-story house, of the rural sort, in the 
hamlet of Campo Plorido, not far from the ha- 


AT LAS DELICIAS. 


43 


cienda. Their principal room was large, brick- 
floored, and cool, and looked out on one side into 
the grass-grown principal street, and on the other 
into a charming simple garden. 

Amy, whose imagination was easily kindled, said 
to Beatriz, as she sat there with the latter one day, 
learning a new lace stitch : 

“How charming and peaceful your life is! It 
seems ideal. I cannot help envying you.” 

“ I am not to be envied, but very unfortunate. 
Neither of the world nor wholly out of it,” returned 
the recluse, sadly ; “ its distractions are thrown in 
upon us here, and I am not always strong enough 
to withstand them. I often feel myself falling 
away from a high ideal and growing worse.” 

Dona Beatriz returned the liking of the pretty 
American, so novel an acquaintance for her, and she 
sometimes came also to the hacienda to repay her 
visits. The rest were assembled in the corridor 
there on one occasion just after Beatriz had left 
them, when the Jefe Politico, wholly without tact, 
and riding rough-shod over the favorite leanings 
of those whom he was making a pretence to concil- 
iate, began : 

“Bah! they’re a fine lot — these mincing, gen- 
teelish, high-toned nuns of the order of Santa Bosa, 


44 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


as well as the others. I’d send them all packing, if 
I had my way, few or many.” 

“ Senor Corcovedo ! ” protested the Madre , flush- 
ing with a strong indignation. This was the day 
that finally settled his suit. After that Luz would 
have nothing more to do with him. 

“ I speak for myself,” said the Jefe. “ The 
point is here, immediately here. Well, then, for 
example — does it not seem so to you? I have 
many excellent ideas. I discuss all from the point 
of view of science. In science I can tell you every- 
thing, absolutamente everything. I have made 
many orations, as a public official — for example, at 
banquets — you understand what I mean.” 

Amy tooted an imaginary trumpet behind him. 

“ They pull poor faces,” he went on, “these wom- 
en, like the one who has just gone away, but I’ll 
bet the three have the treasure that used to belong 
to their convent comfortably hidden somewhere. 
I have had a notion more than once to look it up.” 

“ It was probably taken out of the country by 
the Mother Superior or others who went abroad,” 
suggested the General. 

“ I don’t believe it — no, sir. I have authority 
that it was not. Besides, it was too bulky. Why, 
they had a solid silver railing across their altar. 


AT LAS DELIGIAS. 


45 


and golden candlesticks higher than I am and as 
thick through the body. I say nothing of all the 
crowns, bracelets, necklaces, and rings, set with 
precious stones, they had on the images, nor the 
rain of emeralds, rubies, pearls, and diamonds 
scattered over their silken garments, nor the solid 
cash in the treasury. And yet they make the gov- 
ernment pay several hundreds of dollars every year 
to support them.” 

He was more direct than usual in his talk on 
such a point as this. Indeed, in matters of greed 
and persecution, he was not lacking in a rude sort 
of executive ability, despite his befogged speech. 

The Senora del Prado and her daughter had 
already gone away, to show their displeasure. Don 
Walter and Amy went to the great gardens, where 
perhaps their pleasantest hours were spent. They 
passed along a dusky clipped alley, opening into a 
sort of pantheon of foliage, in the niches of which 
stood Flora, Bacchus, and Apollo. The path hence 
was narrow, and at the end you came out, in sur- 
prise, upon a very large oblong fish-pond, with a 
straight avenue of noble trees leading upward in 
gentle undulation from the farther end. On one 
side of the fish-pond were the most ornate flower- 
gardens ; on the other, extending its whole length, 


46 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


a broad flight of steps with rows of broken 
columns, and at the top little comer pavilions, 
which looked down over a miniature gorge or 
barranca without. The couple sat down upon the 
broad steps, near the water. 

“ When I first saw all this,” said Amy, “ I began 
to realize the enchanted gardens of Armida.” 

In the fish-pond six little formal stone islands 
served to support choice roses. They were 
reached by some boats, high-pooped, green and 
gilded, such, too, as might have suited the gardens 
of Armida. Nor was all this too carefully kept ; it 
was treated in practical, every-day fashion that but 
added to its charm. Some of the luscious supera- 
bundance of mangos and guavas lay rotting along 
the terrace walks, and appetizing odors from the 
comer turrets showed that they were used for the 
storage of fruit. 

Amy had grown round and plump ever since 
coming to Las Delicias. Her health was better, 
and she had probably never before looked so well 
in all her life as now. Her companion, drawn per- 
haps by some unusual bloom, to-day, ventured to 
remark the change. 

“ Yes,” she said, welcoming the reference 
brightly, “I got Trinidad Jose to weigh me the 


AT LAS D ELIO IAS. 


47 


other day, and the result is, after calculating your 
kilograms into pounds — no easy matter, by the bye 
— I turn his scales at a good one hundred and 
forty.” 

No Spanish girl would ever have talked to him 
like that. There was about her an entrain , a 
thorough freedom of character, together with a 
range of intelligence, to which he had not been 
used in women. It continually delighted him. 

“Oh, dear! I was such a thin, forlorn-looking 
person,” she continued. “I had a cold one spring, 
which I believe they thought I would never re- 
cover from. It is not so very long ago that my 
brother used to call me the Rag-baby.” 

“ Rag-baby ? I don’t understand.” 

“I didn’t think you would. Oh, a nerveless, 
boneless, limp sort of object, don’t you know? I 
used to wear a very large white necktie in a bow- 
knot — it was a fashion just then — and my brother 
pretended that my head was tied on with it, and 
would fall off if I pulled out the ends.” 

“ Mexico has much to commend it, since it has 
done this for you,” commented Walter. 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE HE ART OF THE EABTH. 

They drifted in their talk to the boorish Jefe 
Politico, and then to a subject his last remarks had 
naturally called forth. 

“ The air is full of such stories,” said Walter. 
“ According to veracious authorities, our soil is 
perfectly sown with treasures, from the golden cal- 
endar wheels of Guatimozin down to the silver 
dollars of the latest stage-robber. The rich mines 
abandoned in the wars are one great resource, the 
ruined haciendas another ; and then all the peas- 
ants, having no savings-banks, are in the habit of 
burying their earnings in the ground, where they 
forget them when they die.” 

“ It has a fascinating sound. But you speak in 
the most sceptical way.” 

“ I have had a fair go at those elusive hoards ; 
I will admit that Captain Perez and I have 
searched for some of them.” 


THE HEART OF THE EARTH. 


49 


“And you don’t believe they exist? ” 

“ Oh, I suppose one might, with infinite pains, 
get a few beggarly thousands. The chances are 
about as good as in playing in the Havana Lottery. 
There is an opening for destiny to aid a person who 
very much needs it, but destiny doesn’t improve it. 
I have aspirations,” throwing a singular inflection 
into his tone that was more than mere humor, “ for 
an incredible sum. No mere ordinary riches will 
do for me.” 

“ Such moderation is really quite astonishing.” 

“ I often go about with a head full of unpractical 
ideas. I want to go deeper than the deepest mine. 
Look at the earth below us, dark, massive, un- 
touched, four thousands of miles down : there is 
a subject to strike the imagination. We have 
reached to the stars and fathomed the sea, why 
can we not go down into the earth?” 

“ Yes, it is impressive, truly ; that dark interior 
seems to me the greatest of all our mysteries.” 

“We have penetrated perhaps a beggarly half- 
mile, as against four thousand. I dream of send- 
ing electric currents along the mineral veins to 
melt out their contents, to pierce the central reser- 
voirs of treasure. It is wealth like that that I 

need ; less will hardly suffice.” 

4 


50 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


Amy was pained as by a certain earnestness and 
genuine greed in these wild, monstrous ideas. 

“ Why do you want so much money? ” she asked. 

“ To rival your Vanderbilts and Astors, your 
magnates of New York,” he answered, turning it 
off, laughing. 

“ But is there no way ? You are so young yet. 
If you are discontented here, why not go back to 
your own country, where opportunities and a 
career naturally await you ? ” 

“ I want an incredible sum ; I will never go there 
without it.” 

“ You do yourself injustice in these ideas,” she 
said, simply. 

They got up and walked on to another spot, per- 
haps the most quaint and curious of all. The 
princely founder of the hacienda, the father of the 
present occupant, had stopped at no expensive ca- 
price. He had built beside a warm spring a pa- 
vilion of solid blocks and columns of clear glass. 
This structure was but the better for being some- 
what green and broken with time. 

“ I often come here in the afternoon, and sit in 
the shade, either within it, or on this bench beside 
the spring,” said Amy ; “ it is one of my favorite 
spots.” 


THE HEART OF THE EARTH. 51 

Nor was it to be wondered at. The very view 
had an original charm : a vista was cut through 
the trees, and there spread out a prospect of agree- 
able solitude, ending in the vast twin snow- 
crowned peaks. 

“ Try it now, I beg, in the sun,” said Walter. 

His companion, amiably complying, mounted 
and stood in the centre of the glass pavilion. 
Opalescent greenish, golden, and silvery gleams 
fell upon her and glorified the brightness of her 
hair and the mosaic blue of her eyes. She was 
like some priestess of light in her temple. There 
was a mysterious effect about the whole, as of 
flame burning in the sunshine. 

“ The basin is a singular one,” said she, coming 
down. “ Sometimes, as I sit beside it, it ebbs or 
flows before my eyes. I have heard say that its 
level can be affected even by the human voice.” 

“ The water comes down from the hot springs 
above, under the cliffs, but it has much more than 
their singularities.” 

“ I have not yet seen those springs : can we go 
up there ? ” 

They had started, when Trinidad Jose, detailed 
to look after that part of the place, came along 
with a large dog at his heels. 


52 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ What is his name ? ” asked Amy, stopping to 
give the animal a friendly pat. She had a pleas- 
ant word for everybody, and every creature, which 
had gained her already no small popularity on the 
estate. 

The man, before replying, looked cautiously 
around, and then at both of them in a searching 
way. 

“ Corcovedo,” he answered. 

“ Corcovedo ? ” repeated Walter, in surprise. 
“If you despise a man in this country,” he ex- 
plained to Amy, “the most insulting thing you 
can do is to call an animal after him.” 

“ I wouldn’t want it to be known, but that’s his 
name,” said the gardener. “ Do you like the Jefe 
Politico ? ” he asked Amy. 

“No, I think him odious.” 

“Ah, that’s it, you don’t find him admirable? 
Well, I think him a devil and the son of a devil : 
that is why I call my dog after him.” 

“ But he’s such a nice dog ; it isn’t fair.” 

“ I can’t help it ; it’s the only way I have. I 
just call him Corcovedo to myself a few times 
every now and then ; it does me a world of good. 
The old scoundrel don’t know it ; if he did he’d be 
too strong for me.” 


THE HEART OF THE EARTH. 53 

While they were still smiling at this simple way 
of revenging one’s self upon an enemy, the young 
brother, Angel, came up. He had the hobby of 
chemical experiment at present, and he was in 
search of Don Walter, to go with him to precisely 
those upper springs, that they might find among 
the mineral substances encrusted about the waters 
some specimens for analysis. 

Accordingly, they all went on together, following 
the little stream, which smoked, over a clear bed, 
among thickets of luxuriant tropical plants. At 
the upper level, nature, as usual, had been much 
supplemented by art. The springs broke out at 
the foot of a cliff formed of columns like those of 
Fingal’s Cave. A portion of the upper part of the 
cliff had been rudely carved in the shape of a hu- 
man face, and had a balustrade and cypresses on 
the top. The waters, hot and cold, ran out upon a 
terrace, with heavy ramps and stairway, and were 
led along to a place where bathing-tanks, dis- 
creetly veiled with charming shrubbery, were ar- 
ranged. 

“ Here, indeed one may appreciate that he is in 
a crater,” said Walter. “ The rock is the denuded 
wreck of the very heart and nucleus of the old vol- 
cano, wind and weather having ground all the rest 


54 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


to powder. It came up molten hot, and cooled off 
in these hexagon columns. You find them of all 
sizes, some as fine as needles.” 

“ And the hot springs have something to do with 
the internal fires?” inquired Amy, her voice not 
quite free from anxiety. 

“ There can’t be much doubt of it, considering 
the peculiarities they present. Or they may be 
only indirectly connected, through the geysers in 
the Barranca of Cimarron. The bottom of the 
Barranca is higher than this point, and possibly 
they work through. The same formation belongs 
to the two places ; the rent made in the mountains 
by the Barranca tapers to an infinitesimal crack, 
very near here.” 

“ And you still persist that you are not afraid ? 
It will probably not be in my time, but when I 
go away from here I shall look back on you all 
with a good deal of misgiving.” 

“ What really frightens me,” he returned, “is to 
think you are ever going away.” 

Angel laughed loudly at her question, and, in 
haste to be at his work below, began to gather his 
specimens, flowers of sulphur, white vitriol, sul- 
phide of arsenic, and what not, and left them to 
themselves. 


THE HEART OF THE EARTH. 55 

“You tell me the volcanic lava is still boil- 
ing in that remote gorge, and it is still an active 
crater ? ” said Amy. “ Speaking of treasure, why 
are not places like that, in which a violent interior 
turmoil is going on, promising ? It seems as if 
nature would throw out there complete specimens 
of all she possesses, including her most valuable 
minerals.” 

“It’s a good striking idea, but it must have 
been tried — yes, I’m sure it has been tried. My 
recollection is that, though volcanic districts are 
favorable generally to the precious metals, the 
active do not yield anything of consequence.” 

“ Have you ever been down into this gorge?” 

“ No; and yet I hardly know why, since I have 
often been at a loss for excitement.” 

“ Excitement ! ” repeated Amy, taking him to 
task. “ Do you know they give you something of 
a bad character?” frankly; “they say you have 
consorted with unprincipled revolutionists, ex- 
brigands, and the like.” 

“ They mean Captain Perez, of course, and they 
are wrong,” quite good-naturedly. “ The General 
does not like him because they do not belong to 
the same political faction. I can truthfully say I 
have never seen anything wrong in Perez. For my 


56 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


part, I find no great difference in the factions : all 
alike are ready to tear the country to pieces at an 
instant’s notice. My small experience with revolu- 
tions has made me acquainted with a few bold 
fighters and good sportsmen, that’s all. There is 
no career here, even in the military way. I ask 
myself, what’s the use of trying anything ? First 
one ambitious chief upsets the government, then 
another. No stability, no certainty. They do 
promise us peaceful times at present, and railroads 
are to be built. Perhaps some opportunities will 
open then, but I think it will be long before we 
see them, and they will hardly furnish places for 
all, at the best.” 

“ Then why not go to the United States, I ask 
you once more ? ” 

“ It takes too much money to live there among 
you American Croesuses.” 

Such perverse answers tended to confirm unfav- 
orable accounts of him. But then, when have wom- 
en required that those in whom they interest them- 
selves should first possess all the cardinal virtues ? 

Seeing a disappointed look on her face, Walter 
added, as they began to go down, “ My aspiration is 
worthy your approval. A great burden rests upon 


me. 


THE HEART OF THE EARTH. 57 

He was accomplished in woodcraft. One day, of 
leisure, he made up an expedition to explore the 
woods of the slope behind the hacienda. He hung 
in his belt a machete, the half-sword, half-sickle of 
the country, useful to open a path, cut an orange 
or coffee - stick, or lop an orchid, and led on, with 
all the children behind him. He had the gift 
of making himself agreeable to children. Theirs 
liked to run, to shriek, to pretend to be afraid. 

“Los toros ! los toros ! ” (the bulls) they would 
cry, making imaginary resemblances to the fierce 
animals in some inoffensive cows or goats. Then 
they would tear wildly back to his side and grasp 
his hands, or bury their faces in Luz’s or Amy’s 
skirts. 

Walter pointed out the mahogany-tree, the white 
camphor, the quinia-bush, and a score of almost 
equal interest. 

“It is like a whole growing drug-store,” said 
Amy. “ How do you know so much about them 
all ? For my part, I am hopelessly ignorant, and 
it is now too late to learn.” 

He did not tell her then that his father — perpe- 
trator of the great defalcation of the day, one that 
had shaken money markets to their centre — had 
turned, as a refuge, to such pursuits, and made him 


58 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


the companion of all his walks, implanting thus a 
taste which later life had served to confirm. He 
turned the question aside in an easy way, as he 
often had occasion to do. 

They grouped themselves for luncheon on a 
large rock, near which a brook ran forth. The 
children went and waded in the cool water, ming- 
ling their laughter with its babbling. 

There was one place where broken arrow-heads 
and fragments of earthenware, remains of the Az- 
tecs, could be picked up. Amy was much pleased 
to find these antiquities herself, but Walter treated 
them indifferently, promising her better. 

“ I shall beg your permission to give you a little 
image I found awhile ago in the ruins of the tem- 
ple at Xochichalco,” said he. “It is of chalchi - 
huitl , the green stone once considered sacred.” 

“ Xochi ? — and dial — dial ? ” she stammered. 

“ The mouths of some charming foreigners are 
too small to pronounce such long words.” 

“ Oh, avec ga ! Mine will be large enough to 
say something pretty severe if you make such 
absurd speeches.” 

On the crest of the ascent was found a tall tree, 
in which was built a seat, reached by steps, for a 
lookout place. Thence could be seen a part of the 


THE HEART OF THE EARTH. 59 

Escorial-like roofs of the hacienda, a glint of 
statues, and of waters, and the fertile expanse 
spreading out all around it. 

Down the outward slope was, as it were, a field 
of newly-ploughed earth, which was in fact a vast 
lava-field, cutting off access to the mountains on 
that side. Very far away and high up was a 
glimpse of the white and splintered walls of a 
chasm. One fancied he saw a film of steam rising 
from it, such as hovers over Popocatepetl. 

“ There is the Barranca of Cimarron, and the 
tradition of the Yellow Snake,” said Don Walter, 
pointing. “ Those cliffs are probably three thousand 
feet high.” 

“The Yellow Snake again. Did you tell me 
you had ever seen it ? ” 

“ It is rather inaccessible, you know.” 

“ There is so little enterprise in your Mexico. We 
Americans should, long since, have had a railroad 
there, and patent-medicine signs painted on the 
rocks, and a score of very large and bad hotels 
which would have made you pay roundly for a view 
of all those wonders. Then you would have seen 
them.” 

“ But you forget how sparsely settled the coun- 
try is, the difficulty of getting about ; and that it 


60 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


has by no means always been safe. Few persons 
would care to make such an excursion. And there 
must be plenty more places here, too, where man 
has hardly ever set his foot.” 

“I am just dying for adventure,” persisted Amy, 
wilfully ; “ but of course a woman could not go 
there. What can poor women do ? ” 

“ They can inspire men,” returned her compan- 
ion, with a rather determined air. 

“ Oh, I do not mean — I am not so silly — I only 
meant — I only like to hear myself talk.” 

These were the days in which she wrote to her 
friend, Emily Winchester : 

“ I seem to be living in a kind of heaven upon 
earth — everything around me so beautiful, every- 
body so good to me. I appreciate it with an over- 
fulness of heart. All the trouble and sin of the 
world seem removed to an infinite distance. I can 
hardly believe they exist.” 

Don Walter brought her the little green image 
of which he had spoken. It made a pretty orna- 
ment, and she attached it to her watch-guard. 
Soon after, his labors at the hacienda coming to an 
end, he disappeared, and was not seen nor heard 
from again for a considerable time. 


CHAPTER V. 


GOLD, THE SUN OF METALS. 

The first proceeding of Don Walter in this ab- 
sence was to ride away to his haciendita — little 
hacienda — of Cruce Vivo, a small property given 
him by his guardians, to the end that he might be 
made more contented through the possession of 
some estate of his own. 

His course lay first through the village of 
Campo Florido ; thence by a detour to the right — 
to avoid the lava-beds, which constitute an almost 
impassable obstacle on that side — up the long, 
thickly-wooded slope into the dominant mountain- 
range. The path, in its early stages, was crossed 
by occasional fences, with rude gates, which he 
managed to open without dismounting. A part of 
it was cut out of the solid rock. There were 
brooks to be forded, where the swift water ran 
breast-high on his horse, and places to be climbed 
and descended more like precipitous stairways 
than a road. Now and then he saw some mild 


62 


THE YELLOW SNAKE 


Indian Daphnis minding cattle, or a peasant com- 
ing down the trail, bending low under heavy bur- 
dens of forage or charcoal for market. 

He turned off to the right, on a connecting trail, 
and reached his farm after about half a day’s jour- 
ney. He raised some stock and coffee there, it ap- 
peared, but there were no great signs of life about. 
It was not his purpose to remain ; he ordered a 
servant, a certain Pablo, to collect a few articles he 
had need of and prepare to accompany him at 
once. 

The man started back in energetic refusal when 
the objective point was made known, and it was 
only after the most positive injunctions were laid 
upon him that he submitted — and then in a sulky 
way — to go along. 

They passed through the hamlet of El Jasmin, 
with its sacred hermitage, and its inhabitants 
weaving fabrics of a coarse blue stuff and making 
a red earthenware pottery. Some of their jars 
were large enough for Ali Baba’s forty thieves. 
Then they reached Huetongo, a hamlet of more 
gloomy aspect, the metropolis of a sparse popula- 
tion of charcoal-burners. Here was found, in fact, 
a “ Cafe and Cantina of the Yellow Snake,” a dark, 
forlorn little interior, with but few customers at 


GOLD, THE SUN OF METALS. 


that time of day. It was the most promising 
place for negotiations, however, and Don Walter 
left the horses there, and, with great difficulty, se- 
cured a guide. A second was afterward employed 
in addition to the first, who professed to have no 
great confidence in his ability to point out the 
way, after all. 

“ You say neither of you has ever really been in 
the canon, and you cannot mention a person who 
has actually seen the Yellow Snake ; then how do 
you know there is one ? ” said Walter, arguing in a 
scoffing way with these men, when they stated 
their apprehensions. “ How do you know it isn’t 
a green dragon or a blue monkey, instead of a yel- 
low snake ? ” 

“ No, senor, it is a yellow snake,” answered one 
of them, mournfully. 

“ Is it the centoatl, that shines in the dark? is it 
the saltillo , that leaps at you all of a sudden? 
Will it devour a man? Come, tell us all about 
it.” 

“No, senor,” in a tone of pained reproach at this 
bold scepticism, “it runs away before a man. 
They say its home is on a rock, and whenever it 
sees anyone coming it glides swiftly into a boiling- 
hot fountain.” 


64 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


“ Pretty tough, isn’t it, to stand that ! And 
now, if it runs away, why are you afraid of it ? ” 

“ It is very bad luck to see it, my patron ; that 
is well known.” 

“ Oh, there you go again, always the same old 
story of bad luck. Well, I venture to say we shall 
have very good luck, all the same.” 

With this he dismissed the controversy, which 
was perhaps having a still further demoralizing ef- 
fect on his Pablo. 

The way abounded in scenes of wild grandeur, 
growing yet more savage as they progressed, till 
the mind was divided between admiration and fear. 
They reached a certain notable cave and paused 
there briefly. Though but a hundred feet from 
the path, it might have been passed undetected. 
Within it were an ancient platform, a heathen 
altar and image. So noiseless, as it happened, 
was their approach that they were not discovered 
by a man within engaged in worship. He was in 
the act of placing a small copper coin in the mouth 
of the idol. 

“ Listen ! ” said Pablo. 

“ I suppose you cannot do us any great good ; 
your day is over now,” the poor peon was saying 
naively to the god — a combination of serpent and 


GOLD , THE SUN OF METALS. 65 

the human figure, both laughable and terrible in 
its grotesqueness — “ but I’ll give you a trial, any- 
way ; I don’t want you to do me harm.” 

At this place one of the guides deserted the ex- 
pedition. The remaining guide — watched the more 
closely thereafter — led them on by thick-wooded, 
devious paths till they soon came to the long-looked- 
for chasm. 

Few could stand without an involuntary shrink- 
ing upon that dizzy margin. The Barranca 
stretched out several miles in length, its remote end 
hidden from view by a turn in its course. The 
vast adamantine walls narrowed darkly together at 
some points, and at others spread apart, affording 
a view of the bottom, full of smoking springs and 
sulfataras. Portions of the cliff were green with a 
verdure as of poisonous acids. Some oaks of pe- 
culiar toughness clung to the crannies of the rocks ; 
and down the slopes, such as form the usual glacis 
at the foot of precipices, could be seen sparse, tall 
stems of organ-cactus, like spears of the gods hurled 
from the sky. Steam spouted here and there from 
the precipitous sides, and occasionally formed a veil, 
shutting off the whole from sight. 

The guide led up, then down, in a very irregular 

way, and finally brought them to where the path 
5 


66 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


ended abruptly on a ledge of almost measureless 
altitudes both above and below. There was abso- 
lutely no possibility of going further. 

“ What does this mean?” demanded Walter, 
sternly. 

The man, changing countenance, replied, con- 
fusedly, “ I have forgotten the trail.” 

He could not be made available for any further 
service. They climbed back again, and then he es- 
caped, like the other. 

But Walter, meantime, had had a glimpse of a 
place, a mile farther on, where his practised eye 
argued, from the continuous vegetation that found 
a foothold, that a path descended. A way was hewn 
thither through the thick forest growth, and he 
proved to be right. Over almost insuperable ob- 
stacles, they at length entered the formidable valley, 
strewn with the wreck of a volcanic world. 

The cyclopean processes of nature, elsewhere dis- 
creetly hidden, were here openly at work. The 
ground smoked from a hundred fumaroles and other 
vents, and around them the fragments of rocks — 
granite, sandstones, limestones, and slate, brought 
up by the resistless force that had torn through 
them from the lowest depths — were crumbling in 
whitish flakes under the attack of powerful escaping 


GOLD , THE SUN OF METALS. 


67 


gases. A great sunken bowl — which Walter pro- 
ceeded to call at once La Caldera — burned lurid 
with molten lava in violent ebullition, and strange 
lights appeared in crevices of the side-walls, as if 
the cliffs themselves were on fire. The tall cliffs 
vanished in a long winding perspective, inspiring 
awe ; here and there stood out from them vast but- 
tress-like projections. Across the blue sky arching 
above often passed such billowy masses of vapor 
as if the canon were the manufactory of the very 
clouds. 

It was nightfall when they reached this place, and 
they encamped on the spot where they found them- 
selves, under an improvised shelter. Next morning 
they began their explorations. Pablo — a fat little 
man of no great character or stability — finding him- 
self fairly inside the gorge and safe enough thus far, 
seemed less disturbed in mind. They ranged first 
down toward the lower end, where difficult access 
was had, through a defile, to a large volcanic lake, 
without. They passed a night, then turned back 
to the head, where the monster crags drew together 
and joined at an obtuse angle. 

They passed over mounds of smooth volcanic 
sand, heaps of scoriae and ashes, and floods of solidi- 
fied lava. Strange, hut-like projections, with open- 


68 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


ings, were met with in the lava, which had once 
been simply air-bubbles in its tide. 

There were not wanting some gay and pleasing 
effects also. Nothing more joyous could be imag- 
ined than a mammoth warm spring in a circular bowl 
they fell in with on the morning of the second day. 

“ Look ! look ! the water is smoking in a basin of 
snow!” cried Pablo, so surprised that for the 
moment he forgot his misgivings. 

The water, warm like that of the basin at Las 
Delicias— Walter’s fancy turned toward Amy sitting 
there — flowed down from the principal receptacle 
over a succession of terraces, each containing a sub- 
sidiary basin. The whole was of travertine, white 
as the purest marble, formed from the calcareous 
deposit of the waters. 

Don Walter explored this spot thoroughly ; it 
might well be the home of some stately god, and 
ought by all the probabilities to be the haunt of 
“ the Yellow Snake.” In a random way he rolled 
some heavy stones into the basin. These, perhaps, 
choking the mouth of a subterranean vent, produced, 
as happens in geysers, a formidable ebullition, quite 
out of proportion to the cause. But nothing what- 
ever appeared that could be construed as super- 
natural. 


GOLD, THE SUN OF METALS. 69 

Going on, somewhat after mid-day, he came to a 
curious heap, or cairn, of bowlders, thrown together 
as by Titanic hands, around which surged a white 
flood of furiously-heated water. The mozo , smitten 
by a nameless panic, would not approach, and his 
master, leaving him, went on alone. 

The cairn could not be reached at all on most 
sides, on account of the heat of the water, but, 
searching round it, he found an accessible point 
where ran another brook, this, strange to say, of 
gelid coolness. He clambered up to a sort of plat- 
form whence he could overlook all below. 

The shadow sides of the rocks were of an almost 
velvety blackness, but they were touched with vivid 
light where the sunshine, reflected from the op- 
posite wall of the canon, fell upon them. The mad- 
hot torrent disappeared under a large flat rock, 
slippery with constant spray, as if it had plunged 
downward into unfathomable depths. 

Walter, tired with his work, threw himself down 
and rested. He fell to musing upon his labors in 
the Barranca and on what he had hoped to find 
there. He had broken off specimens of all the 
rocks, and he had tested all the powders and solid 
deposits encrusted round the borders of the springs, 
and had met with no success. 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


70 

His musings were disturbed after awhile — he 
hardly knew, in his abstraction, how long a time 
had passed — by a sense as of something moving 
under his eye. It was such a sense as one has when 
a bird or animal stirs in the bushes near us. He 
aroused himself, and looked down to the slippery 
flat rock immediately below him. There was 
motion ; there was life. What an object held his 
fascinated gaze, and set his heart wildly beating ! 

A reptilian head had peeped forth. It was 
round, smooth, yellow ; it seemed to have neither 
eyes nor mouth. The head was gently followed by 
a body. Slowly, deliberately it came forth. Sinu- 
ous and rather slender at first, it gradually gath- 
ered bulk ; it grew squat and broad. When the 
whole shape had emerged, it was some three feet in 
length. 

It was a distinctly yellow serpent, without spot 
or speck of any other color. 

“ Have I lost my senses ? ” cried Walter. “ Does 
some misshapen Aztec divinity really exist in this 
lonely spot, and has he chosen to show himself to 
me, the greatest of sceptics ? ” 

Sensible, even while this confused fancy passed 
through his mind, that the phenomenon would be 
accounted for in some natural way, he could not 


GOLD , THE SUN OF METALS. 71 

free liimself nevertheless from a definite awe and 
dread. Following his first hasty impulse, he de- 
tached a fragment of rock to hurl down upon it. 

“ If it be some rare specimen,” he went on in his 
cogitations, “why has no naturalist made it the 
choicest of his treasures ? why has no hunter made 
it the most remarkable of his trophies ? ” 

His missile fell with a crash, but the creature 
did not stir. Then he hastily whipped out his 
revolver and fired. Still, whether he had hit or 
missed, only the same result. No faintest sem- 
blance of haste or alarm ; the same slow deliberate 
gathering motion on the part of the Yellow Snake 
continued. Finally, steadying his hand securely — 
for surely his aim must have been confused by the 
tremor of his heart — he fired once more. 

While he watched keenly for the effect, the Yel- 
low Snake suddenly swelled to its utmost bulk, slid 
down the smooth rock, and shot like lightning into 
the boiling flood. No mortal creature could survive 
such a temperature, and yet — the ancient tradition 
was on record. 

He hurried down from his post, sought a new 
coigne of vantage, and saw the appearance recom- 
mence. Again the yellow head peeping forth, 
again the sinuous body, again the thickening and 


72 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


broadening. Had it crept back miraculously, 
through some crevice, from the spring, or was this 
yet another Yellow Snake, and was a whole family 
of them about to pass before his eyes ? Again it 
darted along the rock and took its wild plunge. 
This time it seemed to burst into a hundred scin- 
tillations as it touched the surface of the water. 

In feverish haste, the bold explorer laid hold 
upon anything at command to make a temporary 
foot-way. Some small cedars, of a tough variety, 
flourishing even here, made a principal resource. 
Constructing with his blanket and some twigs a 
sort of buckler against the heat, he passed over to 
the flat rock. He fired at a new materialization of 
the form. This time the creature was surely hit, 
for some bright splashes flew into the air, as if its 
very life-blood were shining yellow, too. 

It was not a spot where one could stay long, but 
fortunately no long stay was needed. He found 
splashes of a yellow metal on the rock, and picked 
up his flattened bullets thickly encrusted with it. 
Returning, confused by the wreaths of steam cir- 
cling round him, his foot slipped, and it was little 
short of a miracle that he had not ended his career 
in the boiling flood. 

But he bore away the peculiar yellow flakes for 


GOLD , THE SUN OF METALS. 78 

examination. He established himself in a place of 
safety by the cool brook, and proceeded to test 
them with acid, by trial of weight, and other con- 
vincing proofs of the assayer. What did he find ? 
Ah, what indeed ? 

The splashes of metal scattered over the rock by 
his fire, and encompassing his bullets, were gold. 
The Yellow Snake was but a molten stream of the 
purest gold. 

“ Merciful heaven be thanked ! ” he cried, in un- 
utterable gratitude, as this discovery with all its 
far-reaching consequences was borne in upon him. 

Yes, it was true : subsequent investigation only 
served to confirm it. A thin stream of gold was 
here forced up, by tremendous pressure, from the 
inmost depths of the earth. The conditions of a 
gigantic crucible were present ; some fierce volcanic 
heat, perhaps, had come in contact with veins of 
precious ore, tried out their contents, and formed a 
hidden reservoir. And the peculiar movement that 
had been observed was, no doubt, nothing more 
than the slow accumulation of the issue till it 
should have attained momentum enough to over- 
come the inequalities of the rock and make the 
plunge. 

Pablo had heard the shots and called out, from a 


74 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


distance, in alarm. Walter shouted back to him 
reassuringly, more afraid now to have him come 
near than he had before been annoyed at his lack 
of co-operation. Nevertheless, he did not succeed 
well alone, and so summoned Pablo to his assist- 
ance. 

“ There is some sulphur deposit here, of curious 
scientific interest,” he said, “and I want you to 
strengthen the foot-way I have made to yonder 
slippery rock, to get access to it.” 

Pablo worked at this task with averted eyes, 
crossing himself frequently and hardly even once 
looking at the spot. Finally he refused to do 
more, and Walter kept him at it by presenting a 
pistol at his head, a harsh measure, no doubt, 
somewhat excused by the circumstances. The man 
was of a sullen, revengeful nature, and conceived 
from this proceeding a hatred of his master that 
was to have far-reaching consequences. He was 
next made to fetch a quantity of thick, adhesive 
clay, of which a supply existed at no great distance, 
and after that a capacious maguey satchel and 
other things from the baggage. Then he was 
effectually got rid of on pretext of bringing up part 
of the provisions from the point where they had 
been left on entering the canon. 


GOLD, THE SUN OF METALS. 


75 


Don Walter, acting upon quick mechanical intui- 
tions, crossed again to the flat rock, exposing him- 
self to danger in a daring way, laid a rough line of 
stones, filled in their interstices rudely with clay, 
and smoothed this afterward, from a distance, with 
a long pole. He thus established both a dam which 
would check the metal in its flow to the spring, 
and a sort of conduit to lead it in a new direction. 
Then at the hither side of the rock, where his con- 
duit ended, he fixed the maguey bag in a crevice, 
with its mouth well spread open, and lined the in- 
terior of the bag with a coating of wet clay. 

Soon he had the unspeakable satisfaction of see- 
ing the deposit of metal follow his new channel. 
He dragged out the bag, to which he had attached 
a stout rope, plunged it into the cool water, and 
tried its contents. The result was of the same 
amazing character as before : the whole was of pure 
gold. 

Pablo returned, and was sent off again on some 
new pretext. Don Walter worked with tremen- 
dous diligence at making a long, low trough of stones 
and clay, capable of holding a large quantity of the 
deposit, and well hidden from sight. He also cast 
fragments loosely about the platform, to give a 
more natural look, in case any other — “which 


76 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


righteous heaven forbid ! ” he murmured — should 
look upon it during his absence. 

With his servant he crept for lodging, that night, 
into one of the hut-like bubbles of the lava-bed. 
He went back for a last look at his treasure, next 
morning, then set out on his return homeward. 

On the climb he met with an accident which 
caused a slight lameness. The gossips above, who 
knew him for the man who had so rashly ventured 
into the canon, shook their heads over it, as con- 
firming the traditions of bad luck. 

“It’s an exhausting, thankless journey,” said 
Don Walter, by no means desirous to dispute the 
impression. “ I would never advise anybody else 
to take it, with so little to repay the trouble.” 

Pablo, for his part, had no more informing re- 
port. At the first opportunity he left his master 
and sought service elsewhere, at which Don Wal- 
ter, with certain new projects revolving in his head, 
was not at all displeased. 


CHAPTER VL 


A TALK IN THE STATELY GARDENS. 

Amy went to town with Dona Beatriz to see the 
convent to which the latter had once belonged, 
whither the three nuns still liked at times to go 
and pray. 

The quaint, spacious establishment, uniting pe- 
culiarities derived from the Moors to a florid Re- 
naissance, had been occupied by turns as a ware- 
house and barracks, and the main tower of its 
church was cracked by an earthquake. In the 
cloister garden, for the most part overgrown, disor- 
derly, and even squalid, a small spot was cleared 
and a stone seat was placed. This was before a 
wall on which, by some good-fortune, two or three 
fragments of what had once been extensive frescos 
remained. The plastered wall showed traces of 
target-practice, or perhaps of f usilage during a siege. 
A pious hand had lately put some fresh carnations 
and roses into pits left by some balls that had 
pierced a frescoed figure of Christ. 


78 


TEE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“Don Walter did this,” said Dona Beatriz, indi- 
cating the improvements. 

“Don Walter? is he, then, of so religious a 
turn?” 

“ On the contrary ; or rather, like his father, he 
has the religion of the Americans, which is dif- 
ferent from ours. He has even given me some 
books to prove that mine is false.” 

“But I do not understand why he takes such 
pains here.” 

“It was for our pleasure. I think he had heard 
— we had said something about it to the Senoritas 
Arroyo. He has a bold heart as well as a kind one ; 
he is afraid of nothing. We should not have dared 
to do it, for fear of offending the authorities.” 

She walked away a little distance to a thick tan- 
gle of shrubbery near some old tombs, knelt upon 
a slab, as if to engage in prayer, yet scanned the 
vicinity with an anxious and furtive eye. Amy, 
looking at her and the desolation around, thought 
of the legend of the young nun who, praying in 
her garden, paused to hear a bird sing, and on 
turning round found everything decayed and a 
hundred years gone over her head. 

“We like it here because these pictures are the 
only ones preserved,” said Dona Beatriz, returning, 


A TALK IN THE STATELY GARDENS. 79 

“and there are so many associations connected 
with this place.” 

It might have been noted how she inclined to 
dwell upon Don Walter and his doings ; and Amy, 
now that he had been gone a week, was glad 
enough to have someone to converse with on this 
subject. The recluse showed an interest, too, in all 
the little details of her daily life at the hacienda. 

“ I live so much in the world I fear I shall ac- 
quire a hopeless taste for it,” she said, deprecat- 
ingly. 

“ And why should you not ? Why should you 
not be of it ? You are too young and attractive to 
bury yourself thus, especially since you have no 
permanent vows to bind you.” 

“ That is what Don Walter has told me : he says 
I ought to go back to my family and to marry,” 
she rejoined, timidly. 

Amy was startled. For the first time she re- 
flected upon the attraction such a handsome young 
man might not unnaturally exert upon the demure 
novice, balancing between the gravest obligations 
to heaven and the frivolities of earth. But before 
she had time to go far in this direction she was yet 
more startled by a sudden question : 

“ Shall you marry Don Walter? ” 


80 


TEE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“Oh, no; we are only good friends, pleasant 
companions,” she replied, coloring and embarrassed 
to the point of hardly knowing what answer she 
made. 

“You are so much together, and you are so 
beautiful.” 

“ Don Walter will marry when it seems good to 
him, but he has need of much money, and I am 
poor. And besides, it is customary in these mat- 
ters to wait till one has been asked,” she concluded, 
laughing. 

The Sister appeared naively convinced, even by 
these confused disclaimers. 

“Is it truly so, captivating though you are? 
Your hair is like threads of spun gold.” 

“ No, no ; it is you who have lovely hair, Dona 
Beatriz ; how heavy yet fine it is ! And dark hair 
is far the more attractive.” 

On the return home, just at the point where the 
trail from the mountain joined the road, they met 
Walter himself. A great, glossy-leaved amape-tree, 
with a bench of brick and stone around its base, 
spread its ample shade there, and the street was 
not unlike that of a New England village. 

Never before had Amy seen Walter so joyously 
animated, so full of fire, though he was also haggard 


A TALK IN THE STATELY GARDENS. 81 

and wan, and a tired, sullen-looking mozo rode be- 
hind him. He stopped for but brief parley. 

“I have been at the Barranca of Cimarron,” he 
said, bending down from his saddle to the carriage. 

“ You look weary and careworn.” 

“ It is nothing. I have something to tell you. I 
want your counsel — I want — I will go to the ha- 
cienda to-morrow to explain.” 

He had checked himself at sight of Beatriz, but 
the latter had seen already that burning ardor in 
his glance, that fervid meaning in his whole man- 
ner, which could have but one interpretation. 

“ If you do not love him, be my friend, speak to 
him of me ! ” she exclaimed, turning from red to 
pale, nerving herself to a desperate effort. “ If he 
must have money, I can make him very rich. He 
does not know that. Oh, will you tell him ? Can 
I trust you with so wicked a confession ? I dare 
not look at you. Can I hope you will aid me in 
this?” 

“ It does not become a woman to sue,” replied 
Amy, with no little disdain. 

She abated her involuntary coldness, however, 
and again treated the giver of this impulsive confi- 
dence with affection before their parting. “ But I 
speak in your own interest,” she said. “ If it is to 
6 


82 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


be, it will be ; heaven orders all things well. I will 
keep your secret, but a woman must not sue for 
love.” 

She found no great cause for surprise in what 
she had heard ; on the contrary, it all seemed nat- 
ural enough ; but she went away changed, embit- 
tered somehow toward Walter, herself, and all the 
world. 

Was the poor little recluse insane when she 
spoke of conferring treasures, or was there some 
ray of truth in the surmise of the Jefe Politico? 

When Walter came to the hacienda he glowed 
with almost the same ardor as on the preceding 
day, yet an element of misgiving seemed to have 
crept into it. A coldness, too, on her part made 
itself felt even against all his impetuosity. 

“ Is there not some other who better deserves 
your confidence ? ” she asked, haughtily. 

“ I do not quite understand.” 

“I have talked with Dona Beatriz. She tells 
me of your friendship, of the profound influence 
you have had upon her life.” 

“ The poor little thing ! It is a pity to see her 
waste her existence in a cloister, still more in a 
mere imitation of one,” he responded. A certain ab- 
stracted air appeared even in this reply ; he seemed 


A TALK IN THE STATELY GARDENS. 83 

held by the overwhelming engrossment of a much 
more important idea. 

“ It appears that she is very unhappy on your 
account. She has even asked me to intercede for 
her. Will you bear witness that I have done so ? ” 
she concluded, almost disdainfully. 

He looked at her astonished, and rejoined : 

“ I have exchanged but a very few words with her 
in all our acquaintance. Whatever influence I may 
have exerted upon her is apart from my own doing. 
I did not suppose a single worldly idea had ever 
entered her innocent little head.” 

There was a hearty sincerity in this that carried 
conviction with it. 

“ Oh, how awkward I have been ! ” said Amy, 
ashamed of her girlish conduct, and alarmed for the 
inferences he might naturally draw from it. “It 
was only that I felt a little hurt, I think, at — at 
not having been informed of such an affair, if it 
were so. You must punish me by not telling me 
what you had in mind to tell.” 

“ On the contrary, I have come expressly to offer 
you a confidence I would intrust to no other human 
being.” 

“That is a compliment indeed. How shall I 
show my appreciation ? ” 


84 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ I have penetrated to the heart of the ancient 
mystery and superstition : I have seen the Yellow 
Snake.” 

“Is it such an extraordinary secret? It really 
exists, then ? ” 

“ It really exists ; and it is as different from what 
you may imagine as anything can possibly be.” 

“ I trust it has not brought you the traditional 
ill-luck?” 

“ That remains to be seen ; perhaps it depends 
upon you.” 

“ Upon me ? You do me too great honor.” 

“ It was your suggestion that sent me there ; 
honor to whom honor is due. I have scarcely eaten 
or slept since I saw you last,” he broke out, in great 
excitement. “ What do you think the Yellow 
Snake is ? ” 

“ How can I tell? It is wonderful indeed, if it 
disturbs you so.” 

“ It is a deposit of the purest molten gold.” 

“This from you, so skeptical of all treasure- 
stories ! ” 

“ Oh, it is true. Oh, do not doubt it. A kinder 
fate seems to have smiled upon me. It is, perhaps, 
a treasure incalculable. See here ! ” And he drew 
forth some singular fragments of the yellow metal. 


A TALK IK THE STATELY GARDENS. 85 

At the sight of these, some of his own excitement 
gained Amy. She gazed upon them and held them 
in her fair hands, with fascinated eyes. Walter 
Arroyo began an account of all that had happened. 
He had two objects in view, and it was his purpose 
to interweave them. His discovery permitted him 
to plan for a happiness that had heretofore been 
hopelessly beyond his reach. 

“ I had never before been consumed by so des- 
perate a thirst for fortune,” he said. “Why do 
you think it was ? ” he asked, pointedly. 

All indications seemed to point to his saying 
that it was for her sake ; but so chagrined was she 
by her recent conduct, so fearful lest he should 
think her forward, that she caught at any pretext 
for diverting the subject from such a channel. 

“ Come, let us sit down by the spring,” she said. 
“Do you know, one day while you were gone it 
bubbled and surged as it had never been known to 
do before ? ” 

Walter reflected, much struck by the statement. 
On verifying the date, it appeared that this dis- 
turbance coincided with his troubling the great 
travertine basin. 

“It establishes the direct connection I have 
often fancied between the Barranca and the liaci- 


86 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


enda,” said Don Walter. “ It is, indeed, strange. 
There will possibly be some way of turning this to 
account in getting out the millions that may render 
it possible for me to become a humble citizen of 
your United States.” 

“ How absurdly you choose to talk of your own 
country, as though everybody there were rolling in 
fabulous wealth ! ” 

“ Are there some who are not ? ” 

“Oh, now and then, one,” with a nonchalant 
irony ; “ for example, an occasional young woman.” 

Her remark fell upon most interested ears. 
The side issue became as momentous as the lead- 
ing topic. 

“You may have thought,” said Amy, coloring, 
“from all the grandeur hereabouts, that I had 
everything on an equal scale at home.” 

“ Perhaps I had some such impression.” 

“Very well, then, you were wrong. We were 
once in rather good circumstances, but that was be- 
fore my time. I have never known anything but a 
genteel sort of poverty. I do not like to talk 
about myself; but, then, I do not like to be the 
subject of misconception. Now, that you are so 
rich, you will hardly have any tolerance for so in- 
digent a creature.” 


A TALK IN THE STATELY GARDENS. 87 

“Tell me all about it,” he said, in an almost 
caressing way. 

“ Our property was in the hands of a man who 
had been almost universally respected, and he ap- 
propriated it to his own uses without suspicion till 
it was too late.” 

Her companion grew agitated in a very different 
way, and let fall an involuntary exclamation, al- 
most a cry. 

“ Oh, we were not the only ones to suffer,” she 
went on, taking this for indignation. “ He left a 
universal wreck. Banks, corporations, and private 
fortunes went down with him. He was a financial 
magnate whom everybody had trusted, and in whom 
everybody that trusted was betrayed.” 

“ And what became of him ? ” asked Don Walter, 
with difficult utterance. “ What did he do with 
the money ? ” 

“He fled from the country, or, as some say, 
committed suicide. It was given out that he did 
not keep much for himself, but lost all in his spec- 
ulations : I believe that is the usual way. Oh, it 
was a very great affair, I assure you, if there’s any 
comfort in that. Perhaps you have heard of it even 
here. I sometimes see references to it in the news- 
papers as ‘ The Great Ridgefield Defalcation.’ ” 


88 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ Oh, God ! no, not that ? ” 

“ What is the matter ? what have I said ? Why 
are you so disturbed ? ” 

“ To tell the truth, perhaps I have not heard all 
you have been saying. My brain is in a whirl 
over this new discovery. They say men often go 
mad at such times. Do not let me go mad! I 
have come to you for aid.” 

“ Tell me what I can do,” she demanded, alarmed 
at his gloomy change of manner, and most anxious 
to soothe him. He moved about in really quite a 
mad way. 

“ Where a man’s treasure is, there his heart is : 
I — I keep thinking the supply may give out. 
That did not occur to me so much at first.” 

“ Oh, I hope not, I hope not. Let us not admit 
that it is possible.” 

“ The first thing to do is to arrange my plan 
for securing the treasure — such as it may prove to 
be.” 

“ Yes, let us talk of that.” But the role of Amy, 
with her small experience in such a field, had to be 
evidently more that of sympathizing listener than 
adviser. 

“ I have thought of three plans. The first is to 
acquire a title to the spot, and regularly work it as 


A TALK IN THE STATELY GARDENS. 89 


a mine. It would not be safe, under our distracted 
government, to do this. The second is to associate 
a number of influential people in my enterprise, 
pledged to secrecy, and under their protection se- 
cure as much of the deposit as possible. But, nat- 
urally, I do not wish to share it ; and, so nervous 
and distrustful of human-nature have I become, 
that I cannot think of even a single person whom I 
would trust to help me in the matter.” 

“ Not even your friend Perez, whom you esteem 
so highly ? Surely here is a case where his pecul- 
iar characteristics ought to come in play.”. 

“ I do not believe anything bad of Perez, as I 
have told you, but I cannot get up the necessary 
confidence even in him. Captain Perez is my pe- 
culiar property, you see : I allow no one either to 
attack or defend him without contradiction.” 

“ And your third plan ? ” 

“To go alone to the Barranca, collect the gold, 
and convey it out in instalments as best I can. It 
is the one to which I am most inclined. My irreg- 
ular ways of life heretofore will give me a certain 
advantage in passing back and forth without sus- 
picion.” 

“ But if you are discovered ? ” 

“ It is one of the chances. Even then I trust I 


90 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


can hide the source of the treasure, and I will ac- 
count for my own presence in the canon by pre- 
tending to search for chemical deposits or fertil- 
izers for my haciendita.” 

“There is one thing I have been thinking of 
from the first,” said Amy. “If this supply has 
been going on for a long time, as the tradition 
would indicate, there must be somewhere an im- 
mense accumulation, in comparison with which the 
current product is a mere nothing.” 

“ All that must come later. What falls into the 
stream at present probably disappears into the 
very bowels of the earth ; so, no doubt, has all be- 
fore it. To reach the accumulated deposit would 
be to move mountains or disrupt the Barranca 
itself ; it could not be done undiscovered, nor by 
the strength of a single person.” 

“ Yes, yes ; I see that it could not.” 

“ Besides, the problem is, whether it has flowed 
continuously, or only made its rare appearance 
from time to time. My heart is in my mouth 
when I reflect that the latter is probable and all 
may stop at a given moment.” 

“ How do you account for the tradition of bad 
luck when the thing itself is really so fortunate ? ” 

“ By supposing the interest of someone to con- 


A TALK IN THE STATELY GARDENS . 91 

ceal the truth, and then the superstition kept up 
by the ignorance and apathy of the poor native 
class, who change little even in hundreds of years. 
The story was the invention of the Pagan priest, 
who connected it no doubt with the worship of 
idols in the caves above. The priests found it 
politic to keep so good a thing to themselves.” 

Was it really uneasiness from the causes indi- 
cated that had thrown Walter into the deep 
depression by which his elation was succeeded? 
Amy asked herself, marvelling silently at the 
change in him. Just before he had been tender, 
even lover-like. He had taken her hand, and she 
could hardly find it in her heart to withdraw it. 
She had done so only lingeringly ; there had been 
something so dreamily soft, so deliciously sweet 
and intimate in the contact. 

“When I said my luck might depend upon 
you,” he said, at parting, as if feeling that explana- 
tion was demanded, “I meant I needed someone 
to whom I could unburden myself. To you alone 
of all the world I am not afraid to give my con- 
fidence. You are so good, true, wise, and capable 
of keeping counsel. With you to favor and advise 
in the enterprise, I must be fortunate.” 

“No, no,” his hearer protested, “I am weak, 


92 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


shallow, frivolous ; you are wholly mistaken ; I 
have none of the fine qualities you credit me with.” 

“Nevertheless, I am very glad that it is to be 
you who are going to be the only person in the 
world to know where I am when I have gone 
away,” rejoined Walter, smiling sadly. 


CHAPTER YII. 


DON WALTER SETS OUT FOR THE UNITED STATES. 

Upon this the young man at once began to carry 
his plans into execution. He made a series of fur- 
tive excursions to the Barranca, finding each time 
a different way of getting there. At one time he 
would go by way of Campo Elorido, as if setting out 
simply for Cruce Yivo ; again he started from the 
other side of Las Delicias, and succeeded in pick- 
ing out a path over the almost insuperable lava- 
beds ; again he would fetch a compass even as far 
away as Rio Frio, a large town in quite another 
district, where he pretended to sell some of his 
horses or mules. From Rio Frio he got access to 
the gorge by way of Lake Jornada, a body of water 
some fifteen miles long. There was a settlement 
at its lower end, with a rude glass-factory. The 
end near the Barranca was desolate and fre- 
quented only by a few lonesome-looking alkali- 
gatherers, who collected that substance to be sold 
to the glass-factory. 


94 


TEE YELLOW SNAKE. 


In this new manner of life he had to shun Perez 
as well as the others. At last the worthy captain 
was piqued at the rebuffs he met with, and showed it. 

“ The fact is,” explained Walter, “ my good 
aunts are a little dissatisfied with our intimacy. 
You know how it is ; we have spoken of it before ; 
women get strange whims into their heads. Let us 
each go his way for a little while ; their whim will 
not last long, and our friendship will be all the bet- 
ter for it when it is over.” 

The same circumspection was used by Walter in 
disposing of the gold collected in his trips. Part 
of it he concealed in the gorge ; part was a grow- 
ing hoard at Cruce Vivo, and another part still at 
the home of the unsuspecting Arroyo sisters, his 
good old aunts. Finally, one more repository was 
established at a lonely spot on the alkali shores of 
Lake Jornada. 

During this time no words of more than mere 
friendly import passed between the pair who 
should have been lovers. Walter did not return to 
that mood, the meaning of which, at the time, had 
seemed hardly equivocal. 

“ All, well,” reflected Amy, “ sole confidante of 
his secret, partner in a great and hazardous enter- 
prise, is not that enough for the present ? When 


WALTER SETS OUT FOR UNITED STATES. 95 


it is all over there will be none to whom he can 
turn to rejoice with him — or to lament with him, if 
it be failure — as to me. When it is all over, who 
knows ? Perhaps — perhaps — ah, well, let us see.” 

It was agreed between them that whenever Wal- 
ter was absent he should every day at a certain 
hour trouble the waters of the travertine basin, 
that the effect might appear in the spring at Las 
Delicias. The actual existence of such a connec- 
tion had been established by sufficient trials, and 
Amy went as often as possible — she could not 
do so quite without fail — to see her basin thus 
strangely surge and splash. This singular means 
of communication, rude as it was, was a source of 
much reassurance to her. By it she could at least 
tell his whereabouts, assume that he was well, and 
be sure he thought of her. “Why,” she often 
sighed, “ can I not send a message to him in the 
same way ? ” 

The golden flow, according to the best estimates 
they made, was producing every day many thou- 
sand dollars ; but neither of them could realize 
this as solid and tangible value. It seemed rather 
some game of splendid dreams and figures purely 
mythical at which they were playing. It was real 
and serious, and yet not at all real. 


96 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


At last Walter mooted a wholly new project. 

“I am overpowered with uneasiness; I do not 
have one moment’s peace,” he said. “ When I am 
away from the Barranca I am constantly tortured 
by the fear that the flow has stopped, that some- 
body else has got access to it, that I am not doing 
the utmost to secure it, or that I have been, or 
shall be, followed in going in or out.” 

It was but too evident by his looks how mental 
turmoil and bodily labor were wearing him out. 

“ The last time I went up by El Jasmin I met 
our Senor Jefe Politico, with two just as evil-look- 
ing minor officials behind him. That country is 
all in his district ; of course he has a perfect right 
to be there, and he is probably not spying upon 
my movements, but it gives me a nervous feeling 
all the same. I must end this ; I must go to the 
Barranca and stay there till the work is done.” 

“ Alone in that dismal place ? It would be too 
dreadful ! Suppose you should be sick ? ” 

“ A la guerre comme a la guerre ! ” he responded 
as before : “ that is one of the least considerations 
when there are so many more important things to 
think about. If anything should happen now, by 
my fault, when only these few poor thousands have 
been realized — a mere drop in the bucket to the 


WALTER SETS OUT FOR UNITED STATES. 97 

sum I must have — with what bitter regrets I should 
be overwhelmed. I could never forgive myself.” 

“ But how will your absence be accounted for ? 
how long will it take? what if you should meet 
with any accident ? ” expostulated Amy, a thousand 
obstacles and dangers arising before her fancy. 

“ I must appear to go to the United States for a 
visit ; that will divert attention from me entirely, 
and I may then do as I please in my retreat. But 
letters would naturally be expected from me. Will 
you help me in this also, or have I exhausted the 
measure of your aid ? ” 

“You have not yet even begun to draw upon it.” 

“ Suspicion will thus be allayed ; without letters 
it would be certain to rise, to say nothing of its 
being civil to write. Let us say then, one letter 
every three weeks ; that will suffice for good aunts. 
I can plead being extremely busy, you know. 
Other people will hear of me through the post- 
master.” 

“ You speak of being gone for so long a time ! ” 
exclaimed Amy, dismayed at the prospect opened 
before her. 

“I can estimate it almost exactly if the luck 
holds good, allowing of course a liberal margin 
for contingencies. I have never given you more 
7 


98 


THE TELLOW SNAKE. 


than the merest inkling of a burden and obligation 
that rest upon me, and I am not now prepared — it 
is not best — to do so. But of this I assure you, 
by whatever force you may attach to a solemn 
assertion of mine, that the object of my labors is a 
most worthy and honorable one, even one you may 
feel glad and proud to have associated with.” 

Amy recollected with sympathy the hint he had 
once let fall, and her heart smote her at the injus- 
tice she had sometimes done him in thinking him 
merely mercenary or reckless. 

“ Till the last cent of the great sum I need is 
realized I must hold all my gains as a sacred trust. 
Before heaven ! I seek no advantage of my own 
in this.” 

He named it, the sum he required. 

“ So many millions ? ” cried Amy, aghast ; how 
can they ever be got ? ” Still, there was a certain 
reason to feel reassured, for had he not on a former 
occasion demanded the entire treasure in the heart 
of the earth ? 

“ That being premised, there are now two things 
to do,” said Walter. “ In the first place, will you 
give me a few points about New York — the hotel 
at which I may stop, the theatres, palaces, noble 
monuments, and galleries of pictures and sculpture 


WALTER SETS OUT FOR UNITED STATES. 99 

I may see — so that I can write as if I were actu- 
ally there ? ” 

“ Alas ! for our noble monuments and galleries ! 
However, I will try to put our best foot foremost.” 

“ In the second place, are you capable of so 
much duplicity as to take my letters and find some- 
one in New York to receive them and remail them 
to Mexico, as if coming from there ? ” 

“ It is a good cause and I undertake it. Yes, I 
am capable of so much duplicity.” 

She sent one, in fact, to her friend Miss Win- 
chester, another to her family, and another again to 
Miss Winchester, explaining it in each instance as a 
joke, the key to which they should have later. 

The composition of the first letter was entered 
upon at once, and so much amusement was caused 
by mistakes arising out of Walter’s preconceived 
idea of things in the United States that a humor- 
ous light was cast over the sadness of parting. It 
was proposed that Amy should prepare after each 
letter a few particulars, to give a sort of contempo- 
raneousness to the next. He was to steal out of 
the canon, in disguise, say once a month, to get 
these notes, and leave his letter and also one with 
some account of his own doings. 

“ Where shall we put the letters ? ” asked Amy. 

L.ofC. 


100 


THE TELLOW SNAKE. 


“ You know the cross set up at the spot where 
the English governess was killed by lightning : that 
is an excellent place. A natural, easy path goes 
by it, and there is a short cut across the fields to 
Campo Elorido. You can easily make an excuse 
for going there. A number of earthen pitchers are 
hung on the cross by leathern thongs, and it is al- 
ways in order to fill them with flowers. The let- 
ters also must be put in one of these and well cov- 
ered over.” 

Don Walter had already sounded his guardian 
aunts on the subject of a voyage to the United 
States, and when he finally announced his determi- 
nation to go they were not much astonished. They 
thought it might not be a bad thing for him to see 
a little more of the world : perhaps he would settle 
down more contentedly at home on his return. He 
had no desire to hunt up his relations in New 
York, but he made this an occasion for finding out 
as much as possible about them. The Senoritas 
Arroyo, in fact, knew but little. They were dis- 
tantly related to his mother and it was through this 
that they had come to adopt him ; but his mother 
had died before his father brought him to Mexico, 
and nearly all else was befogged and lost in the 
non-intercourse the odium of disgrace occasioned. 


WALTER SETS OUT FOR UNITED STATES. 101 

The kind spinsters made a pleasant reunion for 
him the evening before his departure. He was es- 
sentially of so frank a nature that he could with dif- 
ficulty carry out his imposition. Amy was there 
with the rest. At the moment of farewell his eyes 
gazed long and lingeringly into hers, while her own 
were veiled with tears. 

“ If you do not come back ? ” she found opportu- 
nity to whisper. 

“ Yes, the worst also ought to be thought of, it is 
true. Why, then — then go to Perez and tell him 
about it. But that is to be only a last resort ; give 
me plenty of time.” 

Then he set out on horseback, a long journey, as 
if to take the railway for Yera Cruz. It was his 
plan, he said, to visit some business correspondents 
on the way, and he meant to dispose of his horse 
at Puebla to pay part of the expense of his voyage. 

Some young acquaintances accompanied him a 
part of his way in customary lively fashion. After 
leaving them, he went on with a single servant, 
who carried his luggage. On the second day he 
insisted that the horse this mozo rode was lame and 
looked badly. 

“ I would not for anything that so good an animal 
should be permanently disabled,” he said. “ Give 


102 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


me the luggage on my own horse” — he had pur- 
posely made it light — “ and do you go back. I shall 
get on perfectly well by myself.” 

The man demurred, in surprise, but the order 
was peremptory, and he had to obey. When the 
Senoritas Arroyo heard this they said, “It is exact- 
ly like our boy’s warm heart, always considerate, 
both of man and beast.” 

As soon as the servant had disappeared up the 
road, Don Walter plunged into the thick woods. 
There was no one in sight in either direction to ob- 
serve this unusual proceeding. Within an hour he 
reappeared, as a peon, with the usual copper-colored 
skin and cotton shirt and drawers of the class. He 
emerged from the woods near the spot where he had 
entered and took the road back toward Cuernavaca. 
The animal he rode was also considerably changed 
in appearance, and seemed to have been a victim of 
wanton neglect. 

He passed the night at the same meson with his 
own servant, who was loitering comfortably on the 
return, and set out much earlier in the morning 
than the latter. When he reached a little-used trail, 
penetrating his own familiar mountain-district, he 
struck off into this. A wild brook followed the 
same course, often disputing his right of way. 


WALTER SETS OUT FOR UNITED STATES . 103 

Having gone a certain distance, he. dismounted, 
stripped off saddle and bridle, and, with a sad but 
resolved air, led his horse aside into a thicket. The 
poor animal seemed to have a sense of some tragic 
fate impending. He trembled in every member and 
avoided the revolver that, as an imperative pre- 
cautionary measure, was to have put an end to his- 
existence, with so mighty a bound that he escaped 
from the hand of his would-be slayer, and took to 
the inaccessible bed of a torrent, where pursuit was 
useless. 

“ Go, then, in heaven’s name ; I am glad of it,” his 
master said, aloud, rejoicing in the chance that had 
stayed his hand from a repulsive cruelty, even with 
all the danger of detection it involved. 

Then he shouldered his few effects in a bag, 
peasant-fashion, and went on on foot. Surely any 
acquaintance must have counted this a most ex- 
traordinary way in which to start for the United 
States. 

After Don Walter had gone, Amy Colebrook felt 
far more than before the seriousness of her position. 
It was a weighty responsibility indeed for her, an 
inexperienced little American girl, to be down there 
in the far-off wilds of Mexico, the confidante of a 
secret of life and death and a monstrous treasure 


104 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


with all its far-reaching interests. At times it 
seemed too formidable to bear, and she had to strug- 
gle hard not to betray her preoccupation to those 
about her. Nor was it of one sort only. Looking 
at the prospect of success from the hopeful stand- 
point, she would say : 

“When he is very rich he will have other in- 
terests, other friends, and then — ah, me ! alas, and 
alas, for poor Amy Colebrook ! ” 

If she had been fond of him before, her affection 
took a far greater intensity now that he was away, 
engaged in his arduous struggle with the powers of 
nature in the lonely canon. She often dreamed of 
him, fancying she looked down upon him from the 
towering walls, and saw him there, a sun-scorched, 
storm-beaten figure, small, weak, and ill, amid those 
vast, stupendous surroundings. 

Soon a startling episode happened. Don Walter’s 
horse made his way back to the haciendita, and 
was recognized there. An old servant staked his 
veracity upon it, since he had raised the colt. The 
report went out that Don Walter had been mur- 
dered. This again — in the mountain-region — was 
laid to his ill-luck in having seen the Yellow Snake, 
and tended to keep people away from the gorge 
more than ever. The mozo who had accompanied 


WALTER SETS OUT FOR UNITED STATES. 105 

him toward Puebla was put under arrest. The Jefe 
Politico, who personally would not have greatly 
mourned the loss of a forward young man given to 
laughing at his betters, was nevertheless stirred up 
by the unappeasable grief, and frequent fainting fits 
of the ancient Arroyo ladies, to do something. 
Captain Perez, too, was on the warpath. Amy was 
full of consternation, not because she believed Don 
Walter had come to harm, but lest this excitement 
should cause his discovery. She thought, in a half- 
helpless way, of appealing to Captain Perez to use 
his efforts to stop the hue and cry ; as if this would 
not have been equally fatal. 

In the midst of it all came a letter from Walter, 
apparently safe, arrived in New York. The old ser- 
vant was discredited and the Misses Arroyo recov- 
ered from their fainting-tums. Amy had a guilty 
feeling when they told her about Walter’s travels. 
He wrote a most interesting letter, they said ; he 
described Broadway, Central Park, and the Brook- 
lyn Bridge so that it was almost like being there ; 
but the excitement and fatigue of exploring a for- 
eign country were great, and he would not have 
time to write often. 

At the appointed time she left her communica- 
tion for Walter as they had agreed. She watched, 


106 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


and found it soon replaced by one from him, a sort 
of journal of his doings in the Barranca. What a 
mysterious feeling it gave to think he had been so 
near her, all unknown, unseen ; it was like the visit 
of a spirit. The second month he did not come at 
all ; no doubt the risk was too great. But the trou- 
bling of the spring still continued. 

Then, all at once, the spring was not troubled. 
A second day this concerted signal was lacking, a 
third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth — for eight days the 
waters gave no sign of disturbance, and Amy was 
thrown into an agony of fear. 


CHAPTEB VIII. 


IN THE BARRANCA OF CIMARRON. 

Don Walter utilized a bright night of the tropics 
for his final march to the canon. A radiant moon- 
light still whitened all its strange features when, 
in the small hours of the morning, he arrived 
there. 

He had already conveyed thither many things 
that would be useful to him, and his first care was 
to make something like a permanent home in one 
of the lava huts he had used temporarily. These 
were in reality a kind of rude glass, the effect of 
imprisoned steam forcing its way through the 
vitreous mass. They varied in size from a bee-hive 
to a cottage. Many were of snow-white pumice, 
and they looked like tents, from his door- way. 

He took up his own abode in an inconspicuous 
mud-colored one, near the place where the treasure 
flowed forth, yet not so near as to establish any 
direct connection with it. It needed only an en- 
largement of the natural opening near the bottom, 


108 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


and the cutting out of a port-hole-like window or 
two, to make it habitable. He spread some petates 
— mats of the maguey fibre — on the floor, and con- 
structed a rude table and shelves for his scientific 
apparatus. Then, finding it gloomy, as he lay on 
his camp-bed, to gaze up into the Cimmerian dark- 
ness in the top of the tall cone, he made an open- 
ing for light there also, and later placed a ceil- 
ing, which divided the hut into two stories. Then 
he fitted rustic gratings to his door and windows, 
to keep out wild birds, or perchance even wild 
beasts, at night. 

He had a natural taste for the ornamental, with 
all his masculine habits, and when this was done 
he set some plants in his window-openings, so that 
there was a certain hardy air of comfort about it. 
Just as the edelweiss is found in Alpine snows, so 
he brought back from his explorations small flow- 
ers — symbols, perhaps, of headstrong passion — 
that throve as close as possible to the burning 
heats. 

But he did not complete this work of installing 
himself till he had put the signal of communication 
with Amy upon a more stable footing. 

“ It had been my habit,” he said in his journal, 
“ to throw into the basin large stones and pieces of 


IN THE BARRANCA OF CIMARRON. 109 

stalagmite broken off around its own borders. 
These anger it and thus cause a disturbance in 
some central chamber that finally reaches to you. 
But the ebullition seemed daily to decrease, and I 
feared there might be danger of choking up the 
tube and putting an end to it altogether. So I 
cast about for some less hurtful means, and found 
it by rigging up a long beam rested on a fulcrum, 
and with another short, heavily-weighted beam, 
hung on like a flail at one end.” The sketch he 
drew of this device showed it not unlike an old- 
fashioned well-sweep of rural New England. “ I 
can let down this flail end into the water, and 
stir up a more or less furious protest, as I wish, 
and then move it away again, to await the next oc- 
casion.” 

While the strange, dumb messages were going, 
he sat on the steps of the travertine terrace, dream- 
ing of her to whom they were sent — having but 
scant leisure for dreaming at other times. He 
thought good to occupy a hut at this place also as 
a sort of spring-house. Indeed, he ultimately re- 
moved most of his apparatus here, and made it the 
headquarters for his analyses of the abundant ma- 
terial found in his researches. In addition to the 
other pretexts in mind, he might affect, in case of 


110 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


discovery, to be taking baths for rheumatism, or to 
be a rapt devotee of science. They would set him 
down for a visionary, or even a lunatic, but this 
would only the better withdraw attention from the 
vital interest at stake. 

“ When other needed preliminaries were accom- 
plished,” he wrote, “ I had to inaugurate extensive 
improvements in my way of gathering and protect- 
ing the deposit. I felled some trees, where the 
lower margin of the forest encroaches on the canon, 
slid them down, and drew them along on a kind of 
sled. My idea was to erect an efficient barrier 
against the searching heat and deleterious fumes 
from the boiling stream, one behind which I might 
have secure access to the golden spring. I there- 
fore made two very large heavy frames of wood. 
I nailed crosspieces upon these, and smaller pieces 
again crossing the first. Then I bethought me 
what material, strong enough for the ordeal it 
would have to endure, would be suitable for filling 
the interstices. 

“ In making my way along a ledge at the top of 
the lower slope of talus, I came upon a strange 
substance in strata, white, reddish, or green, em- 
bedded amid serpentine rock and soapstone. It 
was apparently a mineral, and yet it was soft, even 


IN THE BARRANCA OF CIMARRON. Ill 


silky to the touch, and elastic and pliable as any 
vegetable fibres. Surely this was the far-famed 
asbestos, a material indestructible even by the 
fiercest heat or flame. Nothing could have been 
more opportune for my purpose. I conveyed large 
quantities of it to my cabin, prepared the fibres, 
and with this thoroughly interwove the lattice- 
work of my frames, which were then ready for 
use. 

“To put them in place I hoisted them with a 
small derrick to the top of the platform that had 
been my first look-out point, and from there let 
them carefully down. I secured them above by 
supports weighted with stones, and below the 
sharpened feet of the posts were let into holes by 
degrees prepared for them in the rock. 

“ I next made an improved course for the flowing 
metal, the first one having more than once given 
way at weak points. I made it longer, too, ar- 
ranging an even grade for it across a considerable 
yawning interval, and I removed the receiving- 
trough to a greater distance. The new receiving- 
trough was larger and more smoothly finished 
within than the former, and I was even capable of 
lavishing a little ornament upon it, for what did 
apparatus so closely identified with the gamering 


112 


TEE YELLOW SNAKE. 


of this wondrous treasure not deserve? For a 
while I set up a small wheel in the cold brook, 
capable of sending a stream into the trough to 
quickly chill its contents, but this I afterward re- 
moved for fear of detection. Furthermore I scat- 
tered rough fragments of volcanic slag about in 
every direction, to artfully conceal, as I hoped, all 
traces of human handiwork. 

“ Nor was this enough. I felt it necessary to 
form around all the works and the entire place, in- 
cluding my hut, a covert of heavy stones resem- 
bling those in the central cairn. The dread of 
discovery is never absent from my thoughts, and, if 
discovered, the most desperate energy of one man 
could not expect to avail against such fierce cupid- 
ity as must be aroused by the temptation here pre- 
sented. 

“‘It is true,’ I say to myself, ‘that the spot is 
not on the route to anywhere, it is utterly desolate, 
nothing is to be gained by coming here, and the 
strongest prejudice exists against it. And, yet, 
other men may come as I have done ; other men 
have come, as witness the superstition, and the ac- 
curate account of the phenomenon given even by 
my guides.’ 

“I brought down my derrick, set it up again, 


IN THE BARRANOA OF CIMARRON. 113 


and placed with it numerous cyclopean blocks, re- 
sembling those of the central cairn, leaving a wind- 
ing, irregular path among them. When this was 
done, I thought the whole too formal, and spent 
much time in giving it a more random effect. I 
look with longing, envious eyes on all the tongues 
of flame and strong steam-jets going to waste here ; 
were I quite free from constraint, how I would 
make these natural forces work for me ! ” 

These passages of the journal — against the bare 
chance of their being found by any third party — 
were but fragmentary and half disguised under the 
form of a fairy-tale, and he made mention of no 
definite locality. The journal was intended in good 
measure for the eye of Amy, but it would have 
been hard to say just when any particular portion 
of it came into her hands, and whether it was early 
or very much later that she saw even those here 
quoted. There were many important circumstances 
the writer could not set down in his account for 
her out of common prudence, and others that he 
would not out of native modesty. Thus his jour- 
nal contained but little, for instance, concerning 
his own painful labors, which were often really her- 
culean. 

His various tackles were wofully inadequate, 
8 


114 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


compared with the tasks he imposed upon them. 
He quite dismissed the ordinary standard of hu- 
man achievement, and performed prodigies of 
strength and Archimedes-like miracles of invention. 
His muscles, always powerful, responded grandly 
to the tax upon them, and he developed new 
powers unsuspected in himself. Yet, driven on by 
his fervid zeal, he was always dangerously near 
some of those violent strains or shocks that would 
have put an end to all and crippled him for life. 
He was constantly, by turns, cold, wet, hungry, 
scorched by excessive heat, or weighed down by 
almost unendurable fatigue. 

“ The earlier Croesus,” he said, “ offered a prize 
for a new pleasure ; I, the later Croesus, might offer 
one for exemption from any possible pain.” 

Nevertheless, he by no means complained, but, 
on the contrary, even rejoiced in his hardships. 
They seemed to give him a more valid title to the 
treasure. They were a mere nothing compared to 
the life-long drudgery to which most men are con- 
demned, not only to amass wealth, but even to ob- 
tain a bare subsistence. The slightness of his real 
claim was one of the causes of his nervous dread 
lest all should be snatched from him even at the 
last moment. 


IN THE BARRANCA OF CIMARRON 115 


“ It is the destiny of man to win his bread by the 
sweat of his brow ! ” he often exclaimed, “ and woe 
to him who tries to escape it ! I am reaping a good 
fortune far beyond what is granted to the ordinary 
lot of mortals, and I ought to be glad of any small 
semblance of earning it.” 

Paths were traced over the cinder-heaps and 
purple-black emery-sand by his frequent goings 
and comings. They grew as familiar to him as the 
streets of Cuernavaca, and he could follow them as 
well by night as by day. It seemed to him he had 
been there a very long time; former periods of 
existence became visionary, the world of men grew 
small in contrast with this world of elemental 
forces. He had dedicated himself to Yulcan ; he 
was communing directly with that mysterious heart 
of the earth toward which his fancy had been so 
strongly drawn. He felt its throbbing pulse in 
earth-quake tremors ; he heard its breathing in the 
issuing steam, and sometimes a mysterious sound 
like a heavy plaintive sigh came forth and per- 
vaded all the place. He might have thought, as 
the simple natives say of Popocatepetl, that wicked 
chiefs were imprisoned below for their crimes, and 
their groans and murmurs were often heard. 

At night he had around him lights and sounds 


116 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


as of a great city, while in truth there was only un- 
broken lonesomeness on every hand. He thought 
upon his last end and the brevity of life, as one 
could hardly help doing amid such surroundings. 
Still, he was not often gloomy. He was full of 
aspiration for love, power, display, for all those 
things that an ardent young man may desire, and 
for which his desire seemed now to stand no small 
chance of gratification. 

“ My apprehension,” he related, among other 
things, “ has led me to take a lesson out of the book 
of nature, and imitate certain animals whose safety 
lies in being of the same color as the objects 
around them. I have easily reduced my clothing 
to the general dusty hue of the Barranca, and thus 
glide about very little distinguished from my back- 
ground. There is steam generally floating in the 
air, and this is, perhaps, an efficient protection 
against being seen from above ; but I have often 
fancied I saw troops of animals and men peering 
down from there.” 

It was vagaries of crags and fringing bushes for 
the most part that produced these illusions, but 
occasionally he may have been right, for some of 
the lonely charcoal-burners who inhabited the dis- 
trict may have stopped a moment to gaze down- 


IN THE BARRANCA OF CIMARRON. 117 


ward in passing by. However, there was never any 
indication that he was seen, and no harm came to 
him from this source. 

He had a quick eye for natural scenery, and did 
not soon lose his interest in the striking original 
effects offered him in the Barranca. From his hut 
he saw the sun rise and set like a flaming beacon 
on the towering cliffs. These cliffs, broken into a 
thousand fantastic or castellated shapes, were at 
some places sheer, uncompromising, terrible, leav- 
ing no rest for the eye as it scaled their heights in 
search of lodgement. Elsewhere they showed 
basaltic columns, some tossed at random by ec- 
centric force, others standing upright, and many 
broken off as if for pedestals for gigantic statuary. 
Small lateral canons, too, opened from the cliffs — 
curious nooks, of sharp fracture, forever hidden 
from the sun. 

If Walter found any beautiful thing, he laid it 
aside in his cabinet, hoping some day it might 
delight the eyes of Amy. He put away for her 
amygdaloids, almond-shaped crystals formed in air- 
cavities of the lava, specimens of scoriae and 
pumice filled with crystalline deposit, and fossils 
that had once been under the sea. And how many 
a bulky mass of pudding-stone he broke asunder 


118 


THE TELLOW SNAKE. 


with his hammer to search in this promising 
matrix for diamonds ! 

“ Such a laboratory affords all the conditions for 
the formation of precious stones,” he argued. 
“ The diamond is only carbon, the amethyst silica, 
and the ruby and sapphire alumina, all crystallized 
slowly under enormous pressure. Why should I 
not find some of them ? ” 

Nevertheless, his efforts in this direction did not 
meet with success. 


CHAPTER IX. 


PERILS AND ALARMS OF THE BARRANCA. 

“What do I believe is the origin of it all? 
What theory shall I set down ?• ” the journal ran. 
“ Ah, with what good reason I now regret the lost 
opportunities of my school-days, that might have 
made me a thorough master of such an exceptional 
situation as this ! I know only what I could not 
help knowing. Is there a central ocean of heat ? 
I cannot think so. In that case my refreshing 
cold spring must have been as hot as the perfervid 
one alongside of it, and all springs alike must be 
hot. The tides of such an ocean, if it existed, 
would soon rack this frail crust of earth to pieces. 
No, no ; the heat that comes to us in such irregu- 
lar places and degrees is of local origin. As I con- 
ceive it, our black and solid earth is a mass of vir- 
gin elements to most of which water and air have 
not yet got access. When they reach any part of 
it, it slacks like lime, and a heat is set up sufficient 
to melt the hardest rocks. Or, again, different 


120 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


chemical elements being thrown together by move- 
ments of the outer crust would set up a fierce 
energy in their combination. No need to go down 
to an internal ocean for heat, and to suppose my 
thin stream of beneficent treasure comes from 
there. It would have cooled and solidified, like 
other veins of metal, long since. 

“The rich veins that miners love, the wedge- 
shaped ones, increasing in breadth as they go 
down, are formed by injection from below. The 
metallic stream has run or the metallic vapors 
cooled in some chance crevice of the everlasting 
rocks, and there was my vein. 

“ There was my vein, good ! Now, what has 
happened to make this my crucible and bring the 
gold up to me in molten form? One of three 
things, as it seems to me. A jet of gas or super- 
heated steam, like' a blast from a blow-pipe, may 
have touched the vein ; or violent chemical action 
may have broken out close to it ; or what if one of 
the liquid sheets of lava that, unable to reach to 
the surface, force themselves between the strata 
sideways for long distances, and are hundreds of 
years in cooling, had obtained access to it ? ” 

So he went on with his speculations. He cut 
thin lamina© of the lavas, and, examining them 


PERILS AND ALARMS OF THE BARRANCA. 121 

under his microscope by transmitted light, could 
tell the depths from which they came. The great 
caldron of boiling lava he had named La Caldera 
seemed a veritable mouth of the infernal regions. 
It gave out an almost continuous roar, and from 
time to time shot forth fiery bombs with showers 
of scintillating drops, and fan-like tails of beauti- 
ful spun glass, as fine as hair, streaming behind 
them. With microscope and spectroscope he 
found these bombs from the still active crater 
made of native sodium, calcium, magnesium, and 
potassium — the precise materials of the wandering 
meteorites that fall to us from trackless space. 
He found the heart of the earth identical in com- 
position with the illimitable stars. The result of 
all these studies, though they should never have 
any other, was to vastly increase his reverence for 
the sublimity of creation. 

In the neighborhood of his dwelling he had 
found a series of caverns, and these he turned to 
use as receptacles for his garnered treasure. They 
were of various shapes and sizes, some connect- 
ing too among themselves, others standing singly. 
They were formed, like his hut, of a shell of lava 
which had cooled, while an inner stream, still fluid, 
had passed on, leaving them high and dry above it. 


122 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


Every day Walter collected and stored away Its 
own accumulation and instalment. How slowly 
the amount seemed to grow, to the view of his ar- 
dent impatience ! The normal return was liberal, 
and even princely, but there were days when the 
stream did not flow pure, being mingled with, or 
even almost wholly composed of, a lava imitating 
its color. These drawbacks, which seemed to fol- 
low especially some of the volcanic tremblings 
and oscillations in the valley, reduced the expect- 
ed average of value. He made an arrastra , or 
crusher, of large revolving stones, to break up the 
bulky pieces, and a smelting apparatus, to reduce 
the portions thus alloyed to the condition of the 
rest. 

His caution led him to do much of the storage- 
work at night : so familiar was he with the ground 
that he could carry it on then almost as well as by 
daylight. The fragments of rough slag along the 
way took every variety of eccentric shape, and 
often startled him at first with the vivid likeness 
to crouching wild beasts or human figures with 
weapons in their hands, but no real peril arose. 

One night he returned late from a visit to his 
caverns. Jupiter was shining very brightly at the 
time, and he was looking up at a nebulous halo 


PERILS AND ALARMS OF THE BARRANCA. 123 

about the brilliant planet. Suddenly there flashed 
before him something like a lantern swinging in a 
man’s hand. It came from behind a rock directly 
into the path, and was too near for him now to re- 
treat. 

“ Who goes there ? ” he asked, at the same time 
raising his revolver. 

With the commingled voices of the valley in his 
ears, he thought he heard murmured words, but no 
definite answer was vouchsafed. The light ap- 
proached nearer, so near that its gleam fell directly 
upon him. He fired — once ! twice ! the bullets 
singing to their mark as in a vicious way. The 
appearance merely lifted, shot up into the air, and 
exploded with a bright effulgence and slight crack- 
ling sound. It was a sort of will-o’-the-wisp or St. 
Elmo’s fire. 

After this such vagrant dancing flames were not 
infrequent : they were perhaps connected with the 
beginning of some new period in the weather. 
Walter was not superstitious, but he had heard 
many old wives’ tales, and one had need to be 
stout of heart indeed, for if goblin shapes and 
spectral visions ever appeared this place should be 
more favorable to them than most others. 

The time came round for him to convey his let- 


124 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


ters to Amy. He prepared the missive for his 
aunts, using in it the points she had given him. 
If these lacked a little freshness, they, in their 
small experience, would never detect it. He had 
thought he would employ his long periods of leis- 
ure at the Barranca in writing pages upon pages to 
Amy, laying open every thought before her ; but 
when his labors were over he dropped half dead 
with fatigue, and somehow nothing was ready for 
statement ; the time had not yet arrived. She 
reproached him afterward for the lack of fulness in 
his intelligence, saying : 

“You might just as well have been in New 
York, for all I really know of you.” 

He stole out in disguise, made his trip to Las 
Delicias, and returned almost like a man walking 
in his sleep, so little did he seem now to belong in 
the upper world, and so engrossed was he with 
what he left behind. He could hardly have told it 
was not a dream, except for one awakening shock 
of alarm he had in coming jface to face with his 
former servant Pablo. It was near the village of 
La Madalena, west of the hacienda, in the morn- 
ing, and the eyes of this stupid man — who was 
driving some young stock marked with the brand 
of the Jefe Politico — opened wider and wider at 


PERILS AND ALARMS OF THE BARRANCA. 125 

him in growing recognition. Don Walter stum- 
bled and fell as by accident, gave one of the 
cattle a sharp thrust that threw the troop into con- 
fusion, and, amid the dust and turmoil, slipped 
into a cloister, whence the sing-song hum of ur- 
chins reciting their spelling-lesson to the school- 
master was heard, and so out on the other side, 
and escaped. 

The account, too, he had from Amy’s letter of 
the hue and cry raised about his horse was a fur- 
ther awakening influence. 

He marvelled at the danger he had narrowly 
escaped, and at the sweetness and kindness of her 
who must have been so sorely tried for him. The 
consequence of all this was that the risks seemed 
too great, and he missed entirely the next date set 
for his venturing forth. 

The subsistence problem was a simple one ; his 
fare in the canon was even more than frugal. Yet 
sometimes a youthful stomach would crave a sus- 
tenance more suited to maintain the vigor of the 
body in the arduous labors in which it was en- 
gaged, and then he put his gun on his shoulder 
and went along the lower ledges of the enclosing 
walls. Most wild creatures would naturally have a 
salutary dread of the place and give it a wide 


126 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


berth; nevertheless, some game was to be had. 
Once he killed a deer, of which there were plenty 
in the forests above. He had no fear about the 
reports being heard, for they would easily be con- 
founded with the detonations of the place itself. 

One eventful day, a dread that had long haunted 
him at last came true. To him, as to Eobinson 
Crusoe, there appeared a man within his peculiar 
domain. It was on the return from one of his 
hunting-trips that he saw this stranger, near the 
lava-basin. The man had at first sight the misera- 
ble aspect of one of the poor alkali-gatherers ; but 
presently Walter found in him a familiar look. 
He fancied he recognized Kaufmann, the foreman 
of the glass-works at the lower end of Lake Jorna- 
da, a workman of much ability in his line, brought 
over originally from famous Murano. 

Walter had been told in visits paid there that it 
was upon the skill of Kaufmann that the success of 
the manufactory chiefly depended. 

“ What is he doing here in such a guise? ” mur- 
mured Walter. “ He has the air rather of search- 
ing for some outlet than of making discoveries; 
yet there is no surprise or treachery that I ought 
not to be prepared for ; there is no telling what he 
may stumble upon by accident, if not by design. 


PERILS AND ALARMS OF TEE BARRANOA. 127 

I must not let him get out of my sight for a 
moment.” 

He stole along at a distance, keeping a parallel 
course to that of the visitor, while screening him- 
self behind intervening obstacles. 

His heart throbbed faster and faster, and began 
to be fairly in his mouth as the invader moved on, 
and it was evident that the arrangements — though, 
to be sure, expressly made to throw dust in the 
eyes of the public — were about for the first time to 
receive inspection. Instead of keeping straight on, 
however, the foreman, whose course was a mean- 
dering one, and who might really have had no 
more intention in entering the valley than to get 
out of it, bore to the left. 

This line, converging upon that furtively pur- 
sued by Walter, crowded the latter into yet more 
secure hiding. Crawling over a slope of debris 
between two parallel rocks, near the side-wall of 
the gorge, his eyes still cast about for the enemy, 
he did not at once perceive an even more formida- 
ble danger that awaited him. He looked up, to 
discover a large, powerful wild beast, reddish 
brown, with white throat, poised before him, ready 
to spring. 

“ The lion ! the lion ! ” was his startled exclama- 


128 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


tion mentally. His faculties were all but par- 
alyzed for a moment at this sudden peril. 

He had recognized the formidable animal known 
as the cougar, the American lion, though in reality 
it is more like a panther than a lion. But even in 
the midst of his panic he could not help recalling 
a ridiculous story wont to be told by a boasting 
friend of his, of how he had once met one on the 
Cumbres, near Boca del Monte, with no weapon 
but an umbrella in his hand; he had thrust the 
umbrella down its throat, and, thanks to this dis- 
traction, got off unharmed. For his own part, he 
had never got nearer one than very long range, 
though he had often tried to do so, nor had he 
seen any other wild adversary since coming to the 
valley more dangerous than an occasional red wolf 
prowling at a distance. 

His stealthy, unconscious approach, so different 
from either fear or hostility, had perhaps puzzled 
the animal: it may have regarded him with an 
element of curiosity. It stood with one paw 
raised to strike ; its greenish optics gave out that 
glint of elusive expression that is the essence of 
untamable savagery, and the lips of its whis- 
kered visage were drawn back from its savage 
jaws. 


PERILS AND ALARMS OF THE BARRANCA. 129 

Walter, by nature quick in action, had his rifle 
already in position and a finger placed on the 
trigger. But to fire would be to betray his where- 
abouts to the stranger and his secret to the world : 
better any risk than that ; he must not shoot till it 
was imperatively the last resort. With the other 
hand he slowly drew his sharp machete from his 
belt. The same avoidance of shock that had kept 
the animal quiet thus far availed him in this, but 
when the shining blade was fairly out it seemed to 
act as a challenge. 

Walter felt the bound as of a heavy body made 
of whalebone and steel, felt the violent collision as 
it impinged upon his weapon, firmly set like a bay- 
onet to receive a charge, felt the ground give way 
beneath him with a crackling and crunching 
sound, knew he was falling and being buried, and 
fin ally came to his senses in the bottom of a deep 
pit on a bed of snow. 

What had happened? A thin roof-crust had 
broken through, and he was in one of those cavi- 
ties on the side of the sunless north, overhung by 
the tallest of the brooding cliffs, where the snows of 
some phenomenal season, or perhaps even of some 
past geologic epoch, were permanently hidden and 

preserved. The city of Catania, in Sicily, is thus 
9 


130 


TEE YELLOW SNAKE. 


supplied with ice preserved under the lava-floods 
of iEtna. 

He must have fallen some twenty feet : how was 
he to get out ? Jarred, bruised, and benumbed as 
he was, there at first seemed no way of scaling the 
rough walls. There was danger, too, of his sink- 
ing lower, and even being buried out of sight in 
the soft snow. He tied one end of his lasso to his 
rifle, then, nerved by desperation, inserted his 
machete , which had fallen with him, into a crevice 
of the rock, stepped upon it for a support, and laid 
hold of some opportune projections above. He re- 
peated the process till, little by little, he reached 
the top, and then drew up his rifle after him. 

It was a work of no speedy accomplishment. 
The moon was shining over the edge of the Bar- 
ranca when he emerged. The wandering invader of 
his realm, and the ferocious animal, had alike dis- 
appeared. No trace remained of either. It had 
all transpired in a flash, like some of the absurd 
things he had seen in pantomimes by the zarzuela 
companies at the theatres. 

The vividness of the episode passed away in 
time, as that of others had done, but it served as a 
reason for increased alarm and new precautions. 


CHAPTER X. 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 

Walter by no means used the more obvious places 
of concealment in his caverns, but sought the inmost 
penetralia. His plan was to fill stout bags he had 
brought with him, like those of the sulphur-gath- 
erers of Popocatepetl, full of the treasure, and, 
after depositing them, to heap them over with 
black sand and scatter loose fragments on the top. 
When this supply of bags was exhausted, he made 
little heaps of about the same cubical contents, 
that he might keep the basis for his general esti- 
mate unimpaired, and covered them with sand in 
like manner. 

Standing in one of these caverns where he had 
piled the bags several tiers high, he would liken 
himself fancifully to the famous Inca of Peru in 
his room full of gold which the remorseless Pizarro 
had demanded as ransom. 

His over-anxiety even led him to make his pre- 
cautions too elaborate. He connected together the 


132 


THE YELLOW SNAKE, 


different depositories by means of a system of 
clews, all leading to a centre, and carefully hidden 
from sight, but somehow his clews became disor- 
ganized and thrown into such confusion that he 
himself had much difficulty in finding many of the 
places again. A more serious matter still was the 
falling in of some of the roofs upon the bags, which 
it cost him severe labor to recover from their in- 
terment. 

All this put him upon seeking yet more secure 
hiding-places, and these he found in caverns of 
greater extent and stability in the sidewalls of the 
Barranca. There was unmelting snow near some 
of them, too, as in the pit into which he had fallen, 
and this served his purpose quite as well as sand 
for covering up his ingots. 

In exploring these, he entered an opening be- 
hind a small grove of trees from which all vegeta- 
tion was blasted, leaving only bare whitened limbs, 
rattling together like skeletons. No sooner was he 
a few feet from its mouth than he felt his head be- 
numbed by an overpowering heaviness and his 
limbs sink under him. With an instinct to fly that 
seemed the last expiring effort of consciousness, he 
crawled out on his hands and knees and reached the 
free open air again. He lay for a considerable 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 133 

time with the blood beating loudly in his temples, 
gasping, and unable to rise. He had got into a 
new Avemus, or a place like the famous Grotto del 
Cane at Naples, which no animal can enter and 
live. 

Returning to this spot afterward, and examin- 
ing it with a caution which the adventure induced 
him to extend to all his other researches as well, 
he found it a vent of deadly carbonic-acid gas. 
There was even a sort of natural tank without, 
which was filled by the gas pouring down into it. 
In this Don Walter, with his youthful taste for 
novelty, managed to bathe, keeping his head well 
above the gas, so much heavier than air, and he 
thought he found a peculiar refreshment in it for 
his tired bones. The transportation of his hoard 
and rearrangement of it in the new quarters was 
another work that occupied no small time. 

He kept a careful diagram of all the places of 
deposit, and a rude tally-book with the contents 
of each. The amount grew apace ; he had freight 
for many mules, and, still attaching no definite 
ideas of value to it, he was always vaguely troubled 
by the speculation as to how he should get it out 
of the country ; that, he felt, was likely to be an 
even more difficult undertaking than the other. 


134 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


To really go to New York and enlist some Amer- 
ican capitalists who should make it a sort of in- 
ternational enterprise; to confide in General del 
Prado; to pretend to engage in the business of 
dealing in stock between this part of the country 
and the coast, and, in his various trips, convey away 
the treasure, depending upon an arrangement with 
some irregular vessel afterward to transport it 
over-seas — all these projects passed through his 
mind, and their attendant obstacles followed close 
behind them. He could not reconcile himself to 
bringing in outside assistance at this late stage ; 
yet he was two hundred miles from the coast by 
the nearest line, and the country abounded in un- 
scrupulous characters, not to say positive brigands. 

“ But I will not cross the bridge till I reach it,” 
he said to himself ; “ there is time enough and to 
spare, heaven knows, and some way will surely be 
presented.” 

Meantime, he determined at last to prepare a 
statement for Amy containing such a full explana- 
tion of his identity, his depressed views of life, and 
the real nature of his mission in coming here, as 
would set all that she ought to know, or might 
naturally be supposed to be interested in know- 
ing, clearly before her. If he failed she would at 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 135 

least comprehend what he had tried to do, and 
— though if he failed life contained nothing but 
blackness, and he looked forward in no pharisaical 
way to winning her on his good intentions alone — 
there would be a certain mournful satisfaction in 
that. He wanted her to have this before he saw 
her again, that she might have had time to be 
thinking it over. He included in the confession 
no more of his love for herself than might be in- 
ferred : all that would come later. 

The whole was disguised as before, purporting to 
be only an account, by one Ignacio Gomez, of what 
had happened in the ancient land of Cibola. 

There were two things in the valley that great- 
ly affected the imagination of Walter. The one, 
which, as it came to nothing, may first be briefly 
dismissed, was the question, what had become of 
all the deposit of the golden spring in times gone 
by? Pressing almost unwarrantably close to the 
boiling stream in defiance of the fierce heat, he 
found an ancient inscription on one of a number of 
great stones that seemed to have been tumbled in- 
to it, as it were, above its very source. Perhaps 
these stones had come there not by accident but 
design. The stream rose in its greatest strength 
from immediately beneath them, being bent down 


136 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


by them like a stout sapling, and thus forced over 
to impinge violently on the rock whence the Yellow 
Snake leaped forth. They certainly changed its 
course. What if the accumulation of treasure did 
not lie deep in the bowels of the earth, but only in 
the bed of this stream, which had been turned over 
it by those who would preserve the secret from the 
general eye ? And they, heathen priests or whoever 
they might have been, what had become of them — 
if his fanciful surmise was right — that the secret 
was lost ? But that was now out of the reach of 
any human divination. 

Walter Arroyo continually regarded the stones 
with tantalized and hungry eye, but to displace 
them was beyond the force at his disposal. And 
then, too, could he command the mechanism and 
materials for the powerful explosions necessary to 
bring about such a result, the effect upon the 
present source of supply must be greatly dreaded. 
The shock might disturb an equilibrium no doubt 
very delicate, and so put an end to the goose that 
laid the golden egg. 

The other subject by which he was haunted 

But let it be stated in his own words : 

“ Cannot the source be enlarged upon and im- 
proved ? Perhaps there is a much larger quantity 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 137 

of the metal than appears. It may be pushing for 
exit in large supply just behind the face of the rock 
there, and only checked by a too narrow orifice.” 

He had observed that the flow was freer on days 
of low barometric pressure, and the fact gave cred- 
ibility to his surmise. 

These ideas were present to him whenever he 
went near the source. In his feverish haste to 
secure more rapid returns, the temptation was a 
most seductive one. Little by little he yielded 
to it. 

Very cautiously, very delicately, he removed a 
small portion of the rock, and slightly enlarged the 
opening. Joy ! the flow distinctly rounded itself 
out to the larger bore. Again, and yet again, he 
broke off with his hammer and short drill some 
further portion of the rock. It was apparent it 
would stand even more. He probed the opening, 
always with the same delicacy, using a long crow- 
bar, and this had a most excellent effect: the 
stream still expanded to its increased opportuni- 
ties. Visions of a speedy end to the rest of his 
arduous task swam before the warm fancy of the 
experimenter. 

It seemed as if a very small, inoffensive blast 
with powder might be tried. A hopeful ardor put 


138 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


down the voice of prudence. The blast was placed 
and fired. 

Ah, heaven ! who could have foretold, who could 
have believed credible, so hideously painful a re- 
sult ? The flow ceased instantly, absolutely, and 
no subsequent efforts could recover it. The goose 
that laid the golden egg was slain indeed, and by 
Walter’s own hand. 

At first he felt that only some insignificant frag- 
ment had blocked the way, which could easily be 
removed, but he cleared away the debris without 
result. Then with breathless increasing haste he 
began to work — with short drill and long drill, with 
mattock and pick. He fell upon the recalcitrant 
rock with the energy, the fury, of coming despair. 
Mere tools would not answer, but he would still 
reach back to where the elusive golden stream had 
hidden its head. So he fired blast after blast in 
increasing quantities, till most of the rock was 
shattered away, and the whole appearance of the 
place was changed. 

“Oh, immeasurable dolt! Oh, ineffable mad- 
man ! ” 

So he called himself, and in the first access of 
his dismay and disappointment he drew his re- 
volver, purposing to end his days ; but even then 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 139 

some vestige of fine old Stoic philosophy and cour- 
age remained and stayed his hand. 

“ If this stream be checked here, it must come 
out somewhere else in the vicinity, or at least in 
the Barranca,” he cried. “ I will not be bafiied so ! 
I tvill have it ! ” 

He knew in his heart, however, that it might be 
at no more accessible a spot than the bottom of the 
boiling torrent. 

He nowhere found any indication of it. Then 
he began to go over again, with redoubled painstak- 
ing, all his former researches for treasure in some 
other form. He said to himself that they had been 
only superficial, when, in fact, they had already 
been most thorough. Once more he broke the pud- 
ding-stone for diamonds, once more washed the 
sands of the brook and the alluvial earth, holding 
up his pan to the light, that the sunbeams might 
catch with a glitter on any chance particles of gold, 
and once more made small chambers over the res- 
piradores and fumaroles to condense the sublimated 
mineral vapors. He was more like a crazy man 
than one in the full possession of his faculties. 

The most daring attempt of all he made was to 
actually descend into the open lava-caldron. He 
wished to secure some of the glowing ruddy liquid 


140 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


always boiling there, with flame and smoke, on the 
bare wild chance that it might contain gold in its 
composition. 

With the apparatus he had prepared, he got to 
windward of the fumes, and descended one of the 
steep, rocky slopes of the crater. Here was a sort 
of terrace, or narrow ledge of black and loamy soil, 
like dried-up mud, within which, as in a vast black 
melting-pot, and at a lower level, was the hellish, 
seething broth that he would test. 

He proceeded to let down an earthen jar made 
fast with an iron chain. The bucket struck the 
surface, filled, and disappeared. Walter attempted 
to pull it up on the instant, but the incandescent 
flood had already melted off bucket and iron chain, 
the latter as far as its fiery chaps had reached, and 
he staggered back with only a useless remnant of 
the chain in his hand. 

“ What shall I do next ? ” he demanded. 

He bethought him of his asbestos, with which he 
had had in other ways so successful an experience. 
He procured a new supply of it, constructed a sort 
of dipper-box of this fire-proof material, and also 
twisted a rope of the fibres, to be attached to it. 
Thus prepared, he returned to the crater another 
day. He let down the asbestos bucket and secured 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 141 

the specimen he wanted. But, after all this, it 
proved to be only lava, differing but little from 
what lay about him on every hand. 

This was his last resort. He might be said to 
return from it like another Orpheus returning from 
Hades, for, in his consciousness of failure, he, too, 
seemed to leave behind him the dear Eurydice who 
had been his promised reward. His own danger 
had been great throughout, but he made nothing of 
that. Perhaps he would not have cared overmuch 
if fate had there seen fit to put an end to his exist- 
ence after so miserably balking his plans. 

There was every reason to believe that all was 
now at an end, and nothing more remained for him 
to do in the Barranca. He had only to secure what 
he had, and invent that plan for getting it out of 
the country which he had so long kept in abeyance. 
Consolatory mental voices tried to persuade him 
that even his present success was not to be de- 
spised ; but he would have none of this. 

“ To give back some millions that nobody had 
expected might be thought to have a fine effect,” he 
said, “ but there would still remain people to whom 
other millions were due. How could I hold up my 
head and take the world in a bold fashion so far as 
they are concerned? No, it would only be said 


142 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


that a part of the robbery had been made good by 
way of a compromise with conscience for keeping 
the rest. It would never be believed that one who 
had so much had not the whole.” 

These reflections, quixotic perhaps from the 
shrewd, practical point of view, may have aided his 
reluctance to leave so hard-fought a field. He could 
not bear to give it up. A pertinacious obstinacy 
and lingering hope kept continually springing to 
life even now. 

“What if I go out to one of the larger cities, 
even as far as Mexico,” he said, “ get a new supply 
and better blasting-material, return, and try again ? 
This dynamite, of which they talk so much lately, 
would, no doubt, suit my purpose here. With 
plenty of good explosives, I will shatter every stone 
in the place, if necessary, till I come to the Yellow 
Snake. And then I can look for the lost deposit, 
too, without hurting any other interest.” 

So ran his final decision. Every day until now 
he had sent the message of his safety to Amy by 
the spring. With what suffering the dumb current 
would have pulsed, could it have conveyed his own 
feelings, in these later days, to her! But for 
awhile the signal must be abandoned. The third 
period set for the exchange of letters had also come 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 143 

around. He determined, therefore, to stop on his 
way at Las Delicias, both on account of the letters 
and to reassure Amy as to the cessation of the sig- 
nal and the beginning of his wanderings. 

“ Was she well ? ” At first thought it seemed 
almost absurd to fancy anything could happen to 
one so tenderly cared for in the midst of every 
luxury; all dangers rather were reserved for his 
own lot. But he knew that pale death, with sick- 
ness and calamity as well, knocks equally at regal 
palaces and at the hovels of the poor, and no small 
anxiety about her was added to the sum of all the 
others. His letter to her breathed, even though he 
tried to guard against it, a sense of his discourage- 
ment, fatigue, and uncertainty about the future. 
He hesitated much as to whether he should put in 
the confession he had prepared for her, but decided 
in the affirmative. Was there not now all the more 
reason for it, since the prospect of success had 
grown so remote? 

All was made ready for departure : he left his 
belongings in as wild a state as possible, and began 
to climb the craggy wooded path. Here, as once 
before, he met with an accident. A large stone 
rolled from its place under his touch and bore him 
down. It pinned him to the earth, yet was stopped 


144 


TEE YELLOW SNAKE. 


by several small obstacles from crushing him with 
its full weight. He managed to extricate himself, 
but was in great pain and unfitted to proceed. 

A forlorn wounded creature, he dragged himself 
back to his hut, and, his hurts stiffening and taking 
an even more aggravated form before they got bet- 
ter, he lay there for many days capable only of the 
efforts necessary to secure such food and drink as 
would maintain life. He seemed abandoned by 
heaven and earth ; his lonely unbefriended condi- 
tion made a scornful mockery of the golden dreams 
in which he had so lately indulged. Nevertheless, 
no bones were broken, nor was any lasting injury 
wrought, and, though the torment of mental activ- 
ity retarded his recovery, he slowly regained suffi- 
cient of his forces to be about again. 

Then he went back to look at the locality of the 
Yellow Snake, beset by the secret hope that in this 
long interval it must have come forth again. But 
there lay the scene made desolate by his impru- 
dent labors, as still and devoid of any trace of it as 
ever, and so once more he set out for the upper 
world in a state of great depression. 

In all this time he had not once touched the 
signal, nor could he now renew it. He only be- 
stowed upon it a sad smile in passing to think how 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 145 

far beyond his strength it was to replace the appa- 
ratus which by precaution he had unshipped. The 
visit to the hacienda therefore was all the more 
imperative. These were the days that had well- 
nigh broken Amy’s heart. He thought often of 
her anxiety, but he could not help her. There was 
nothing to be done ; he could only hope for the 
best. 

There was something revivifying in the air of 
the higher levels and in having to use his powers 
of strategy, and he began to improve at once. He 
reached the vicinity of Las Delicias, concealed him- 
self a part of the day in the Pedregal, or lava- 
field, and went at night to look for his letter. He 
was right in supposing Amy would go often to the 
trysting-place under such unusual circumstances. 
He found a letter from her, full of alarm at the 
prolonged rupture of communications. For the 
rest, besides the collected news from New York, 
she gave him some of the uneventful gossip of the 
hacienda. 

“ I told you all of it before,” she said, “ in the 
letter I left for you a long time, and then had to 
take back, because you did not come. Now I tell 
you again ; perhaps I shall have to take this back 
also. There is little to say about our quiet life ; 

10 


146 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


you could almost invent it all for yourself. But it 
may interest you to hear that our exemplary friend 
the Jefe Politico, Senor Don Tomas Corcovedo, has 
formally proposed for the hand of Luz, and has 
been rejected. You would have learned it from my 
former letter, for it happened a good while ago. 
Senor Corcovedo has shown himself very indignant 
in consequence, and has tried to be disagreeable in 
various ways. I hear that he has let fall to the 
General grumbling, half-threatening expressions 
about people who are lukewarm in their devotion to 
the government. But this surely could not have 
been intended for our dear General, for nobody is 
more truly patriotic than he. 

“ But why do I talk of other things ? Where are 
you? what has happened? I come to look, so 
often, and find nothing. Am I wrong to be so 
oppressed and anxious ? ” 

Walter replaced it with his own, as on a former 
occasion, adding a few words to the effect that he 
would not go at once, but would try to wait about 
to receive some little further communication from 
her. He found the ancient corral, that had been 
Trinidad Jose’s, deserted, and took refuge there for 
the night. There would have been an excellent 
view of the memorial cross, in the morning, from 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP. 147 

behind its low rambling walls, except that a num- 
ber of yellow straw-stacks were scattered over the 
space between, the faces of some of them rudely 
sculptured, after a not unusual custom, into bas- 
reliefs of saints. 

He saw Amy go by from a distance, however, 
with a group of the family about her. The children 
sported in advance, and with the elders among 
others was Sister Beatriz. How his heart beat as 
Amy went by ! He fancied, from his remoteness, 
she looked pale. She leaned on the arm of Senora 
del Prado, too, as if she were not very strong. 

“ Can it be in any degree on my account ? ” he 
wondered. “ If so, she is soon to be reassured.” 

The company remained an hour or more — it was 
a pleasant rural spot where they might well enough 
pass a little time, though it in no way compared 
with the garden — and then he watched them on 
their return. As soon as the coast was entirely 
clear, he slipped out, and, shielding himself behind 
one straw-stack after the other, daringly risking 
detection, went and inspected the depository. 

Nothing. He hid again in the corral, hoping she 
might make another visit in the afternoon, but 
looking once more in the evening, and yet again in 
the morning, he still found nothing. He thought 


148 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


she had not been able to secrete an answer before 
her companions in the first instance, nor to return 
alone in the second. What was more natural ? 
But now he could wait no longer ; another day at 
the corral was not to be thought of. 

Just as he was about to begin his detour of 
retreat, he saw issuing from the principal gates of 
Las Delicias a numerous cavalcade. There were 
armed servants commanded by the caporal , or 
principal herdsman, a man who wore a red hand- 
kerchief about his head in bandit fashion and was 
wont to claim to be the titular cacique of some ex- 
tinct tribe, and there were peons carrying the imple- 
ments needed to clear the road. Mules, bearing 
provisions for the company for some days, had 
the name of the hacienda embroidered on the broad 
crupper-bands in bright colors. A small escort of 
the leather-jacketed rurales , or country police, 
furnished by the Jefe Politico, was also in attend- 
ance, whose arms and silver trappings jingled as 
they rode. 

In the midst were seen General del Prado, Amy, 
Luz, Dona Beatriz, the Senoritas Arroyo, and some 
other persons of note from the town. 

Several of the party wore such badges as were 
used on the occasion of the pilgrimage to El Jas- 


FAILURE SUPERADDED TO HARDSHIP , ’ 149 

min. Walter bethought him that this was the date 
of it. If it were a pilgrimage to El Jasmin on 
which they were bound, then let him turn back and 
pause a little in his vague plan. 

He discreetly followed their course, his skill in 
woodcraft standing him in good stead. Time was 
really no great object with him now ; an oppor- 
tunity would surely present itself, on such an ex- 
cursion, to speak to her, and many things could be 
settled by word of mouth which could not be by a 
fitful, enigmatic correspondence. 


CHAPTER XI. 


THE PILGRIMAGE TO EL JASMIN. 

But two days after the impulsive . disclosure of 
her affection for Walter, Dona Beatriz had sought 
the hacienda to disavow it, in a passion of confu- 
sion and remorse. 

“ My conscience was dead to every consideration 
that should have restrained me when I talked so,” 
she said. “ I had neither self-respect nor shame. 
I come to beg you to think no more of it, and never 
to breathe a word of it to any other person. Does 
he know ? ” 

Amy was as non-committal as possible, to save 
her feelings, but she had to admit some portion of 
what had taken place. 

“ I hoped to be in time,” said Beatriz, with a 
quivering sigh, and flushing deeply red in her 
shamefacedness. “ It is a part of my punishment, 
then, that he knows. I must never see him again.” 

She shut herself up for a long time after this, in 
peculiarly close seclusion, keeping away from all 


THE PILGRIMAGE TO EL JASMIN. 151 


those she had known. The Arroyo ladies she nat- 
urally avoided most. Thus it resulted that she 
knew nothing of Walter’s departure for the United 
States. Her sincere effort to do right in this strug- 
gle with herself was shown in her never making 
any inquiries for him. It was only by accident 
that she learned of it, and soon after that the two 
older Sisters, her companions, began to report that 
they feared her health would give out, and urged 
her forth to take more exercise. 

Then she occasionally came again to the haci- 
enda. It did not consist with the magnanimity of 
Amy to feel the jealousy that is said to be enter- 
tained by women who are rivals for the affections 
of the same man. 

“ Walter has traits to make him any woman’s 
hero,” she said ; “ he unites strength and courage 
with physical beauty, a generous heart, a frank and 
open character, and a considerate nature. He is a 
man such as all men ought to be when the race is 
perfected. What more natural than that she should 
feel so? Besides, what claim have I to vaunt 
myself over her? We are both in the hands of 
Providence, which will dispose of us in its own 
good way.” 

They spoke of him no more ; but it was plain to 


152 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


Amy whither her companion’s fancies often wan- 
dered. 

The trying days came when the basin by the 
glass pavilion no longer bubbled. As each one 
passed without the signal it was to Amy as if a 
definite portion of her vitality were daily sub- 
tracted. She would go many times in the day in- 
stead of one, to see if it might not take place at 
some different hour. She got Trinidad Jose and 
the little children also to watch the basin for her, 
alleging a great interest in the bubbling as a phe- 
nomenon. 

As often as she deemed it safe, and oftener too, 
for she forgot her prudence in her anxiety, she 
went to the place of deposit for letters. 

“Why do you go so much to the cross of the 
English governess ? ” the family asked her. 

“ Her fate interests me, and the walk is a change 
from the gardens, which sometimes seem too splen- 
did, and there are plenty of maravillas [a pretty 
blue wild flower] there.” 

On one occasion as they — the women over their 
embroidery — sat by the basin that did not bubble, 
the Madre said, casually : 

“ It seems a long time since Don Walter went 
away : he is an acquaintance that one misses. ” 


THE PILGRIMAGE TO EL JASMIN. 153 


Amy could hardly forbear crying out, “ He is 
dead ! his bones are whitening in a terrible place ! 
Or he is in danger, and nobody will help him, and 
I am to blame because I will not tell what I 
know ! ” 

It was the tenth day since the basin had given 
any sign. The effort to keep back the agony of 
her mind was growing almost impossible. She 
was Continually arguing with herself : 

“ Surely time enough has now been allowed to 
go by. Why did he not fix an exact limit ? Now I 
will write to Captain Perez ; but no, what horror 
to betray his plan and ruin all, if there should be 
no need of it ! A dozen things that could not have 
been foreseen may have taken him away. Why did 
we not talk more fully and arrange all that in ad- 
vance ? ” 

The lengthened suspense had made her so pale 
and wan that all noticed it. 

“ You are not well,” said the General ; “you are 
not keeping up to the standard. We must find 
some new distraction or change of air for you. 
What would you like? Suppose we run up to 
Mexico for a few days.” 

“ No, no,” she protested, in a panic ; “lam per- 
fectly well.” 


154 : 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ Then we might ride up to this pilgrimage at 
El Jasmin, near the Barranca of Cimarron. The 
anniversary has come round, and the Madrecita 
here,” slightly mocking at the opinions of his wife, 
“ will tell you that it is a very important occasion.” 

Amy brightened at the mention of the Barranca 
of Cimarron. 

“ Would you like it ? ” he asked. 

“ Very much,” she answered. 

That would be life — movement. Anything was 
better than the torture of stagnation. She would 
leave Trinidad Jose to watch the bubbling of the 
spring for her, and she vaguely hoped, if she ap- 
proached the Barranca, some providential way of 
hearing from him might be found. 

It had been talked of before. Dona Beatriz and 
her companions had desired to go if they could 
place themselves under efficient protection, and she 
was here this very morning to learn the decision of 
the Senora. The General being thoroughly en- 
listed, it required no long time to make the nec- 
essary preparations. Swift messengers were de- 
spatched to town, to do what was needed there, and 
all was got ready for an early start next morning. 
As the group went back through the garden-mazes, 
Amy turned almost involuntarily for her usual 


THE PILGRIMAGE TO EL JASMIN. 155 

walk out through a side gate in the hedge. One 
and then another of them decided to accompany 
her, though it would have been much more to her 
liking to have the children alone. 

Beatriz, too, had noticed her devotion to the 
walk, and even her peculiar proceedings at the 
cross. This time, while Amy, not to seem to go 
there too directly, led the children away a little 
distance, Beatriz, whether out of pure goodness of 
heart and desirous to be first in decorating the 
cross, or obeying some secret suspicion, went to it 
before her. The cross was of wood, with a rude 
canopy, and had vines running up the post, on 
which hung three red earthen-ware pitchers. 

She had in her hand a bunch of the beautiful 
white flowers of St. John. She was about to put 
them in the largest of the pitchers, when, she knew 
not by what extraordinary intuition, she first thrust 
her hand down into it. A crisp paper crackled at 
her touch. With great self-control, she gathered it 
up with her white nosegay, which she carried then 
by a natural gesture to her breast. Acting upon a 
second thought, she left no flowers behind her in 
the pitcher except some faded ones already there, 
and it was all done with such deft rapidity that 
when Amy turned around she was with the others 


156 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


at a large ceiba-tree, and no indication of what she 
had done remained. 

Amy’s own visit was made with more difficulty. 
She waited a good hah hour before she could feel 
sufficiently free from observation. She looked in. 
Nothing there. That was singular, for she recog- 
nized with an exulting throb that her own had gone. 
Perhaps Walter had been surprised at the moment 
of effecting the exchange, perhaps he had been 
obliged to leave his missive behind him, or had 
been unable to write one in the wanderings in 
which he might now be driven about. She had no 
reason to suspect anybody ; had not her former 
letters, and this one too, lain there week in and 
week out undisturbed ? At any rate, hers was gone, 
Don Walter had it, he had been near her, she was 
reassured as to his safety, and in tolerable peace of 
mind she could await the clearing up of the rest. 

She was no longer so eager for the expedition, 
but no pretext could now be found for abandoning 
it. As for Dona Beatriz, she assured herself, sin- 
gularly moved : 

“ Where Amy is, he will not be far distant.” 

The procession moved slowly up the mountain. 
Now and again there was a halt while the advance 
made some parts of the way more practicable for 


THE PILGRIMAGE TO EL JASMIN. 157 


ladies than they had been. Walter hung on the 
skirts of it, but the opportunity of which he was in 
search did not present itself before the village was 
reached. He fell back, therefore, to await his 
chance. He mingled with other peasants going up. 
In the course of talk with them he became sensible 
that there was an uneasy political feeling in the 
air ; people were dreading that something was about 
to happen, they hardly knew what or why. The 
government at Mexico was committing many un- 
warranted and arbitrary acts, a sign of weakness 
and by no means of strength, and vague rumors of 
revolution came from the North. 

The pilgrimage church of El Jasmin had a few 
arches remaining of what had once been a beautiful 
sculptured gate-way. It had perhaps been estab- 
lished where it was as a counteracting influence to 
pestilent local superstitions, and especially to the 
worship of a serpent-idol in a large cave near there. 

It stood on a gentle rise of ground, facing the 
plaza, and there was attached to it a chapter-house, 
or kind of sacred hostelry, for the accommodation 
of pilgrim guests. In this last a few camp-beds, 
that had been brought for the more delicate travel- 
lers, were set up, while the hardy were fain to be 
content with spreading their blankets and some 


158 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


disused carpets on the brick floor. The long rooms 
had scarce any other furniture, save very dark old 
paintings, which it had not been thought worth 
anybody’s while to take away. 

The glimpse of a half-mediaeval life she had at 
this place would have charmed Amy, if her anxiety 
had suffered her to take her usual interest in such 
things. As it was, there was need of all its strange- 
ness to make it a distraction. Sometimes she 
looked on at the pilgrims in their devotions, some- 
times rode with Don Angel short distances round 
about — her fancy galloping faster than the steed 
toward the unattainable Barranca of Cimarron — 
and sometimes strolled with Beatriz a little into 
the village street. The men of the village were 
highly respectful to all those who wore the insignia 
of pilgrimage, and most of the women and girls 
were taking part in it themselves. 

Don Walter took up a lodging in a wattled hut, 
furnished only with a few large earthen jars and a 
charcoal fire-place in the centre, and slept on mats 
like any peasant. For some reason the religious ob- 
servances were much better attended this year than 
usual. Delegations of Indians, in their distinctive 
local dress, were present from a number of remote 
points. Walter prowled among them, looking from 


THE PILGRIMAGE TO EL JASMIN. 159 


a distance at his nearest friends and connections, 
like one from the dead. He came inadvertently 
upon Amy and Beatriz face to face, as they were 
issuing together from behind the sculptured arches. 
Changed though he was by long exposure in the 
canon and by his disguise, Dona Beatriz recog- 
nized him at once. 

“ Don Walter ! ” she exclaimed, with an impul- 
sive cry. “ Don Walter, is it you ? ” 

“I call myself Ignacio Gomez. There is some, 
mistake here. I am in search of cattle that have 
strayed in these parts,” he responded, endeavoring 
to retreat. 

“ No, no, you are Don Walter : I cannot be mis- 
taken. You have not gone to the North : you are 
here and in hiding. Perhaps you are in trouble 
and danger. Oh, can I not help you ? ” 

“ Do you not see that this good man is a mere 
peasant? What a singular idea you have got in 
your head! ” said Amy to her, severely. “Do not 
be offended with us, good friend : my companion 
here sometimes likes to talk at random.” And she 
took her gently by the arm to draw her away. 

She checked her own feelings with wonderful 
calmness, in order to protect him. 

But one of the painful thoughts by which Walter 


160 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


immediately began to be troubled was that she also 
had not recognized him. He had clearly seen the 
surprise dawn and grow on her face. The intuition 
of Beatriz was the quicker. They separated, but 
it is certain that all looked forward to another in- 
terview that might gratify the special desire of 
each. 

Sister Beatriz, struggling with a strange mixture 
of motives, being there partly to pray against her 
own weakness and partly drawn on by her heart, 
would not absent herself from the presence of Amy. 

The second day of their stay was coming to its 
close : they were to leave on the morrow, and Wal- 
ter had made no progress. He called to him an 
Indian woman, bearing a jar of water on her head. 

“ Amiguita, there are some Sisters of Charity 
over there, or Sisters of some kind or other,” said 
he to her. “ You have a great deal of respect for 
them, have you not, though the government treats 
them so roughly ? ” 

“ Yes, indeed I have,” replied the woman, stur- 
dily. 

“ And you would like to hold some improving 
conversation with them, would you not ? ” 

“ Yes, I would like that too ; but they can’t be 
expected to pay much attention to such as I.” 


THE PILGRIMAGE TO EL J AS MIS. 161 

“ I think it would have a good effect on your 
soul’s salvation. I am so anxious to have you en- 
joy this benefit that I will give half a dollar if you 
will go and select the handsome young Sister sit- 
ting on the bench yonder at the door of the chap- 
ter-house and engage her in talk for ten minutes. 
I will double the amount if you make it fifteen.” 

“They have no worldly ideas. Well, you are a 
forward one, you are.” 

“ That’s it, that’s it : I see you understand what 
I mean,” in a hearty confidential way. “ This is a 
perfectly straight affair.” 

The woman was puzzled, but there was the silver 
awaiting her, and even a portion of it already in 
her hand as an earnest. 

“ At the same time, if the moment you begin to 
talk to her you carefully drop this note in the lap 
of the lady sitting next to her — the one with the 
bright hair — that is another dollar. You see, I can 
afford it, as I act for somebody else. Who it is 
makes no difference either to you or me. These 
comfortable caballeros can pay well for their non- 
sense.” 

The woman went and set down her jar, reap- 
peared with a small tray of fruit, and proceeded on 
her mission. Amy was presently aware of a robust 
11 


162 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


Indian woman in reboso and petticoat of the blue 
stuff woven in the place pushing almost rudely be- 
tween her and Dona Beatriz and addressing some 
affecting appeal for sympathy to the latter. At the 
same moment a note fell in her lap. It was of 
about the following purport : 

“ Can the Senorita see for a moment the poor 
man she has sometimes aided, who speaks a little 
English ? He is at the bells, and they are easily 
r jached by passing through the house and out the 
main door of the church.” 

Amy slipped within on the instant. Beatriz was 
detained behind by the mystery in the woman’s 
manner and then by a persistence that amounted 
almost to force. 

The bronze bells of the quaint rococo church had 
been taken down from their tower, which had been 
ruined by an earthquake, and set up temporarily in 
a low rustic pavilion. Walter was there. 


CHAPTER XII. 


THE PASSION OF SISTER BEATRIZ DE RIYERA. 

“ How worn and ill you look ! ” said Amy at once 
on greeting him. “ Is it real, or only a part of your 
disguise ? ” 

“ Some of it may be real — but let us not talk of 
that ; time is too short : let us talk of yourself.” 
He was looking at her with timidity and misgiving, 
aided by the effect of the poor peasant attire he 
wore, to see if perchance he might divine some 
results from the confession he had made her. 

“Pobre ! ” — using the Spanish word of sympathy, 
caught up familiarly from her companions — “no, 
we must talk of you. Oh, what a strange way to 
meet ! Tell me at least that you have been suc- 
cessful, that all is going well ! ” 

“No, at present it is going very ill ; the end 
seems put off to a very long time,” he said, with 
the despair of failure in his heart. “ It was for that 
I wanted to see you, to arrange for the future, to 
make some new little plan of action.” 


164 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ But you speak of failure and of these millions 
you have gained in the same breath ? ” she said, 
repeating the figures he gave her, and catching at 
this as something tangible. “ The amount is one 
that makes my poor brain dizzy. It is already a 
magnificent success.” 

“ It is a mere drop in the bucket,” he rejoined, 
bitterly, after his usual way of looking at it. 
“ Surely the state of affairs and the reasoning pre- 
sented in my letter can have made but little im- 
pression upon you.” 

Thus the letter came to be spoken of, and its loss 
was discovered. Amy raised her small hand to her 
forehead in a gesture of consternation. As is a 
common experience, they could not at once verify 
the exact date and fix all the attending circum- 
stances through which it might have been ac- 
counted for. With Walter there was one redeem- 
ing feature in it. He had felt a little involuntary 
resentment when she tried to comfort him by 
representing his defeat as victory, and he was glad, 
after all, the confession had not reached her. He 
experienced a proud revulsion of feeling on the 
whole subject, and something more of his self- 
esteem returned to him, now that she did not know 
who he was and to what tragic history he was bound. 


THE PASSION OF SISTER BEATRIZ. 165 

“ Yes, as events have turned out, it will be best 
that nothing of it should ever be known till success 
is certain,” he mentally decided. 

Still, the letter had gone astray, and, though un- 
signed and in some respects enigmatic, there was 
no telling what new element of danger might not be 
involved in its loss. 

While they were still animatedly discussing the 
loss of the letter, the Indian fruit-seller came 
around the comer and sent Walter a shrill warning 
in the form of a snatch from a ballad. 

“ Time is passing, time up,” she sang ; “ those 
who do not buy my fruits when they are ripe may 
regret them when they are withered.” 

“ Where next — where next can we meet ? ” de- 
manded Walter. “ Is there no way ? In another 
moment we may be watched, interrupted.” 

“ I can think of only one plan. I might come 
down to the church very early in the morning, even 
before the devotees, and pretend to be one of them. 
You could kneel near me, and we could talk in 
English without appearing to be communicating 
with each other.” 

“ Then, quick ! to-morrow, if you will ; I shall 
be there even before daylight.” And they parted. 

His messenger followed him to claim her reward. 


166 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


Afterward she went and talked about him to an 
arriero , Perfecto Ponce, whom we have briefly 
seen as the friend and critic of Antonio Gassol in 
the first chapter. This man had come up among 
the bands of pilgrims. 

“ Is he one of the schoolmates ? Does he know 
the time of day, since he does such peculiar 
things ? ” she asked, in mysterious phraseology. 

“ I’m not quite sure that he is of the society,” 
replied the other, equally obscure. “ We must 
look him up ; we must keep an eye on him.” 

Afterward who should come up to Walter but 
his old servant, the dismissed Pablo ! This fellow, 
so stupid otherwise, had some animal-like scent for 
identities, and began to peer at him in the same 
investigating way as before. 

“ You look like a better man,” said he, suddenly, 
meaning no doubt to test him. 

“ I wish I could say as much for you, my 
friend, though we are all made in God’s image 
and likeness. You will find that in your cate- 
chism. ” 

Walter thoroughly understood the ways and 
speech of the lower class, and could adapt himself 
to them at need in humorous, rollicking fashion. 
He had a gift of mimicry, too, with which in gay 


THE PASSION OF SISTER BEATRIZ. 167 


moods he would amuse his friends, and he drew 
upon this in disguising his voice. 

Pablo was apparently puzzled, but not con- 
vinced. But twilight was drawing on, and at this 
moment, from under the wide curtain draping the 
main doorway of the church, issued forth the 
saint’s procession, which was the main feature of 
the festival. A large female figure, in black velvet 
gown, silver-adorned, with joined hands and a 
tearful, pleading expression, was carried around the 
plaza on a platform amid a multitude of attendants 
with lighted candles. She tottered under the 
unsteady motion of the shoulders that bore her, 
and the countenance, looking down, had a very 
real and human aspect. 

Amid such a melee , for they were near the front, 
it was not difficult to slip away, and for the mor- 
row he made some further changes in his personal 
appearance. 

He was in the church at the very first gray of 
morning. Amy did not come down for a long 
time. He grew impatient, alarmed. The sky was 
pink instead of gray, and their last opportunity 
was passing. 

“ I could not get away before without arousing 
suspicion,” she said, when, panting with haste, she 


168 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


filially appeared. “ Luz, her mother, and Beatriz 
were in the same room with me ; some of them 
were awake, and I had to wait till they slept again. 
I doubt if Dona Beatriz had slept all night ; and 
you saw yesterday how quick she is to penetrate 
one’s plans.” 

“ Could it be anything more than quickness ? ” 
queried Walter, and they returned to the subject 
of the letter gone astray. 

Amy repudiated the idea. They could discuss 
nothing thoroughly, but dashed from one topic to 
another. Walter repeated hurriedly the same ac- 
count of events in the canon which he had before 
written, and then spoke of the uncertain future. 

“ Do not look any more for the regular bubbling 
of the spring,” said he. “ I have told you of my 
present plan, and there is no saying henceforth 
where I shall be or what I shall do. Nor will it 
do to trust to letters again.” 

“ And I shall not hear from you ? You will dis- 
appear utterly ? ” 

“ If my new attempt does not succeed, perhaps I 
shall soon reappear in my own person; conceal- 
ment would be no longer of any use. But I will 
try to find some means of keeping you in mind of 
me. It may be possible to use a messenger. By 


THE PASSION OF SISTER BEATRIZ. 169 

those whom it is delightful to remember we do not 
wish to be forgotten.” 

Amy was burning to tell him feelingly of her 
sympathy and distress for him in his hardships, 
her warm belief in his final triumph, and her de- 
sire to be patient and strong for his sake, but it 
was too late ; people came and interrupted, and 
Walter went away with a little impression of cold- 
ness on her part. The horses were already stamp- 
ing without, and he overheard Don Angel summon 
her with boyish impatience, saying : 

“ Well, are you not ready ? The sun is half an 
hour high : we ride early here in the tropics, and 
we must be off.” 

The Arroyo ladies were among the other 
worshippers by this time, and it seemed to him 
he could not escape detection should those familiar 
eyes fall upon him. To avoid them, he went out 
by a small door through which the flaming eastern 
heavens could be seen above the vegetation of a 
courtyard. His investigations had already shown 
him there was an exit to a lane. Around the 
courtyard was an arcade of the usual sort, and on 
the top of one of the stuccoed walls, stained lees- 
of-wine color, was a small belvedere. 

Dona Beatriz, who might have just come in or 


170 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


might have been obscured by a column, glided in- 
to the cloister after him, and, touching his arm, 
addressed him in a most agitated way. As be- 
fore, he was disposed to deny his identity, but 
she persisted. 

“Do not be afraid of my betraying you,” she 
said. “ I am prudent. I pass my whole time here 
only in praying for your welfare and safety ; could 
I then be capable of endangering you ? You have 
trusted your secret to her ; oh, I beseech you, let 
me — who would do so much more for you, who 
would give my heart’s blood for you — let me also 
have some share in serving you.” 

“ This from you, Sister Beatriz ? ” 

“ It cannot be wholly a surprise to you, for Amy 
has told you of my feelings.” 

“ She has ; but I could not find it in my heart 
to believe it of Dona Beatriz, whom I have al- 
ways looked upon as the sweetest and most per- 
fect of saints.” 

“ Call me saint and perfect no longer, unless it 
be saintly to worship an earthly hero and type 
of gallant boldness who well deserves it. I am 
changed; your words have sunk deeply into my 
mind : I believe nothing or everything just as you 
would have it. I belong no more to the religious 


THE PASSION OF SISTER REATRIZ. 171 

life, and in the great world what can I do if you 
are not with me ? ” 

“ Tell me, Dona Beatriz,” said her companion, 
gently, touched — as what man could fail to be by 
such an all-pervading, uncalculating affection? — 
“ how you knew I had confided my secret to Dona 
Amy?” 

She blushed with the ingenuousness of one little 
used to duplicity, yet replied, boldly : 

“ I found the letter at the cross of the English 
governess. I did not know what or from whom it 
was at first, but I suspected. It was not till I 
heard you declare yourself Ignacio Gomez that it 
was all clear to me beyond a doubt.” 

“And you openly avow you took a letter that 
was not yours and did not return it even when you 
knew to whom it belonged ? ” 

“ There was one excellent reason why I did not 
return it,” she persisted. “ No, I could not. My 
heart bled for you on divining that confession. I 
could not bear that you should humiliate yourself 
before her. Dear Don Walter, you are too high 
and noble to be an object of condescension to any- 
one in the world.” 

Walter winced before this commendation, this 
touching of the sore spot even by such as she. 


172 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ As for me,” Dona Beatriz went on, “ it brings 
you but the nearer to me. This painful secret 
needs no apology for me : to know you have suf- 
fered makes you only the dearer.” 

Surely here was a strong appeal; there was a 
great sense of rest to him in knowing his secret 
shared and yet no odium falling upon him on ac- 
count of it ; but more was to follow. 

“You have suffered her to aid, and yet it was I 
who was far the stronger. Listen, dearest Don Wal- 
ter : you are in want of very great resources ; I now 
know the reason why. Well, I, even I, might give 
them to you. If I could command a treasure suffic- 
ient for all your needs, would you share it with me ? ” 

“ Does all the world think of nothing else but 
treasure ? ” he cried, as if this were only a kind of 
spectre conjured by her out of his own thoughts. 
“ And you, poor Sister Beatriz, what have you to 
do with such things ? ” He looked at her commis- 
eratingly, and began to doubt her sanity. 

“ It is in my power, poor and weak as you think 
me. Nobody can hear us : I speak of the treasure 
of my convent, buried securely away against the 
greed of the selfish men who would have robbed us 
of that as of everything else.” 

She no doubt saw his face change, and went on 


THE PASSION OF SISTER BEATRIZ. 173 

hurriedly, ardently, as if she saw him yielding : “ I 
trust you at once, though no one else knows it : I 
can have no fear of you. It is close by the spot 
you cleared for us in our old garden of Santa Rosa. 
It is buried in the foundation-wall, and made a 
part of it, so that they might dig the whole place 
over and never find a trace of it.” 

“ Is it yours to give, Dona Beatriz ? ” 

Again she flushed most deeply. “ To use it for 
your mission would be right,” she replied. “ To 
whom, indeed, does it really belong ? It can never 
again be used for the religious purposes for which 
it was designed. The survivors of the convent — - 
who are very few — have no right to use it in luxu- 
rious living, even if their inclinations did not for- 
bid. If it be seized it will not go to the service of 
the state, but to feed individual rapacity. Then, to 
what better end than the one you have in view is it 
ever likely to be devoted? Take me with you,” 
she pleaded. “ You have always been so good to 
me, I belong to you and not to myself.” 

Walter was convinced that her statement was 
true ; many small circumstances from the past wove 
themselves together to strengthen the conviction. 
It needed a strong motive indeed to resist so daz- 
zling a temptation. Nor was it purely mercenary. 


174 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


for the charms of Dona Beatriz were great, and one 
could foresee how she would develop under free- 
dom, which she would enjoy with the zest of an es- 
caped bird, and but now he had thought Amy cold. 
But motive somewhere there was that gained the 
victory even over so many combined allurements. 
A crippled beggar, from the church-door, here 
shuffled up closer to them, asking for alms. "Walter 
motioned him away, and they too moved somewhat 
further on, in the cloister. 

“ I cannot share it with you ; I cannot take it,” he 
responded. “ Give up these strange ideas, and be 
again the unworldly little Beatriz I have always 
liked.” 

“You cannot take it! Oh, I felt it would be 
so. But tell me why, why ? ” she besought. 

A worse man would perhaps have been kinder on 
the surface, but Walter was master, even in such a 
case, of some of that Spartan firmness which fits 
one for great things. 

“ It is best to say it plainly : to accept it, I ought 
to love you,” he replied ; “ and, while I admire and 
esteem you most warmly — as no man could help 
doing — I do not love you.” 

She bent as if before a heavy blow, covering her 
face a moment with both hands. 


THE PASSION OF SISTER BEATRIX 175 


“ There are those who hate if they are not loved,” 
she said, with a touching pathos, after commanding 
herself again. “I am not one of them. I can 
never wish to be revenged, nor think bitterly of 
you. Then take it without me. I can die. It shall 
never be said I imposed myself as a condition upon 
a means that may secure your happiness.” 

Walter advanced toward her to take her hands 
and speak some kinder, more reassuring, words. 
But at this time, though the sky was blue and the 
sun bright, a strange, calamitous wind arose. The 
belvedere above the wall toppled into the court 
with a crash; the ground swayed and oscillated 
beneath their feet, and in some places was seen 
to open : one of the most severe earthquakes 
known m that district for years had ensued. 

“It is a judgment,” cried Beatriz, who seemed 
stricken by a mortal terror. “ The voice of heaven 
has spoken against me.” 

Walter had to look on from a distance at the de- 
parture of Amy like the merest stranger. He saw 
that she had come to no harm. The company, re- 
covering from their panic, more in haste to be off 
than ever, went away in a somewhat disorderly 
manner ; many very anxious to see if any damage 
had been done at the hacienda. 


176 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


In the shock several curious things had happened. 
The cripple in the corridor with Beatriz and Wal- 
ter, for instance, had shown surprising activity. 
He made quite a normal use of his legs thereafter, 
and on returning to Cuernavaca reported to the 
Jefe Politico that the Dona Beatriz had talked in a 
very animated way with a man who, though wear- 
ing a peasant’s dress, did not appear to be a peas- 
ant. Upon his heels came Pablo, who had identi- 
fied this peasant as the same one he half suspected 
to be Don Walter. 

“ Pooh ! pooh ! it is not probable,” scoffed the 
Jefe Politico. “ Nevertheless, we will keep an eye 
out for these birds too.” 

And so it happened that if the first remote 
glance of scrutiny began to be cast toward Walter’s 
own treasure it was because Beatriz had offered 
him hers. 

He had got but a little way out of the place, in 
starting upon a renewal of his own journey, when 
he heard rumors that the disturbance had been 
particularly violent over in the direction of the 
Barranca of Cimarron. One informant, just down 
from Huetongo, said he had seen a mighty column 
of smoke arise from there and mount a prodigious 
distance into the air. All other anxieties were 


THE PASSION OF SISTER BEATRIZ. 177 

swallowed up in the thought that he had better 
turn back and look to the safety of the property left 
behind. 

He therefore took again to his devious routes. 
But, proceed cautiously as he would, he met a 
number of people prowling about in this district 
wont to be so lonely. 

“ Why is there such an unusual beating of the 
woods just now ? ” he asked, entering into confiden- 
tial relations with one of them near Huetongo. 

“The kidnappers are at their tricks again. 
Awhile ago they carried off Kaufmann, the fore- 
man of the glass-works, around at Lake Jornada, 
and a reward is offered. It is said he has been 
seen over this way lately.” 

“If Kaufmann has been carried off he keeps very 
cool about it,” commented Walter. 


12 


CHAPTER XIIL 


CAPTAIN PEREZ’S REVOLUTION. 

On re-entering the canon, Walter saw at once 
that a cliff near his head-quarters had fallen. It 
might have been from this that the great cloud had 
gone up, which was dust rather than smoke. 

The jar had acted chiefly along the central line 
of the chasm, opened new rents, dried up the bub- 
bling lava of La Caldera , shaken his spring-house 
to ruin, and altered the aspect of the travertine 
basin and terraces. His cliff-caverns, with their 
treasure, were hardly disturbed. 

It was only by his habitation, still intact, that 
he could recognize the place of his principal la- 
bors. What a wholesale change had taken place 
there ! The central cairn was toppled over. There 
was no longer any cold spring. There was no 
more any hot spring ; or at least the stream that 
now existed at a little distance could not be identi- 
fied with the flood of boiling waters that used to 
surge so wildly around the spot. 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION 179 


The ever-rising hope in Don Walter’s breast 
prompted him to look again to see if the Yellow 
Snake had not come back as one of the vagaries of 
the convulsion ; but nowhere was any glint of its 
dull golden lustre to be seen. It was not for some 
littld time he realized that another haunting dream 
had actually come to pass ; the hot stream was 
turned out of its course. Its fierce caloric had no 
longer to be guarded against. There lay the wreck 
of his timber barricades and his conduit ; there lay 
the flat rock on which the Yellow Snake had been 
wont to sun itself, free and open now to whoever 
would approach. Below it was a cavernous de- 
pression filled with irregular fragments resembling 
those usually found in the vacant bed of a stream, 
some blackened with slime, others party-colored 
with chemical incrustations. But over the surface 
could be made out certain sinuous lines and vague 
suggestions of shapes that caused Don Walter’s 
heart to stand still for a moment, then to beat with 
a force that made him dizzy. 

He clambered down to the spot. It hardly 
needed his hammer and acids to verify what he 
found there. Everything pointed to the belief 
that he had discovered a large part, at least, of the 
nuggets formed by all the past plunging-over of 


180 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


the golden stream. Let the Yellow Snake go now 
without a thought, for here was its progeny in lim- 
itless supply. Never, even at the time of the first 
discovery, had Walter been so overcome. The pos- 
sibility that he might secure riches for himself, 
even after his honorable ambition was attained, 
now greeted him. Figurations seemed to dart be- 
fore his eyes. He fell upon his knees in a mood 
of the sincerest piety. 

“If I have been often rebellious under the 
scourging hand of heaven,” he prayed, “let me now 
give devout thanks and the most heart-felt grati- 
tude when it is so good to me. Hereafter I will 
mend my ways.” 

In two days he was able to take out enough 
from this new source to complete the coveted 
amount, and not a little over. From each of his 
trips to the caverns he brought back sections of 
dried trees and branches and threw them upon the 
deposit to give an appearance of natural wreckage. 
The bed would hardly have attracted the attention 
of a superficial eye as it was; but he wished to 
make assurance doubly sure. 

The evening of the second day, he thought he 
saw armed men and horses silhouetted on the lofty 
verge of the Barranca, like the gods of Walhalla 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION. 181 

riding in the sky. He fancied this must be only a 
deceptive appearance of the bushes, as before ; but 
this time it was a portent that was to be corrobo- 
rated by extraordinary events. 

What was his amazement, on returning from his 
usual mission the following day, to see two armed 
men in the canon on the very field of his opera- 
tions, and two horses picketed at a little distance ! 
One of the men climbed up to him from the cav- 
ernous bed of the stream, the other appeared from 
behind his hut. 

He recognized the first as Captain Perez, the 
other as Antonio Gassol, keeper of the Alma de 
Mexico restaurant at Cuernavaca. 

These are the shocks that shorten men’s lives ; 
and Walter had had so many of them crowded into 
his late experience that he showed clearly the 
effects of the rack and strain. 

Captain Perez advanced toward him in a hearty 
way with extended hand. Walter was inclined 
to lay his own upon his revolver instead. He 
drew back repellantly, and kept on the defen- 
sive. 

“ Ah, you do not like our intruding ? ” said the 
Captain. 

“ Oh, as to that,” shrugging his shoulders, “ we 


182 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


don’t have a great many visitors here, and it was a 
trifle unexpected.” 

He felt the impolicy of his conduct, yet had 
been too flustered and was too tremblingly alive to 
the magnitude of the interests at stake to have 
adopted any other. 

“ So you are not in the United States, after all ? ” 

“ Good-day, Senor Arroyo ! We do not see you 
often at the Alma de Mexico nowadays, Senor 
Arroyo,” interrupted Antonio Gassol, coming up 
with a most obsequious politeness. Walter turned 
fiercely toward him. 

“ He is all right,” interposed Perez, assuming a 
confidential relation. “ Antonio is one of those 
persons whom it is perfectly proper to trust.” 

“ I am from this part of the country,” explained 
Gassol ; “ so I return once in a while to see how 
my native village is getting along. We have come 
down ” 

“ Yes, to see if we could get some sulphate of 
copper, to use in my arrastra at La For tuna,” said 
his principal, cutting him short. “I pound out a 
few dollars from the ore on my place when I have 
nothing else to do. Antonio, will you kindly go 
and take a look at the horses ? The roan seems to 
have tangled himself up in his lariat.” 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION. 183 


“You do not appear surprised to find me 
here,” said Walter. 

“ I make it a rule not to be surprised. So many 
remarkable things are always happening, I have 
left myself little capacity for it. You were quite 
mysterious in your goings and comings for some 
time, then your horse turned up, giving us all a 
scare lest you had been murdered, and finally I 
learned the other day that a peasant correspond- 
ing to your description had been heard earnestly 
talking English with the fair American of the ha- 
cienda of Las Delicias. I put this and that to- 
gether, and made up my mind you were not in 
the North American Republic, but still in our 
own. I did not know where, of course ; but in 
the hut, just now, I recognized some of your 
property — pardon me for entering it without per- 
mission, but I thought it deserted — and present- 
ly I saw you walking toward me as natural as 
life.” 

Somewhat confused at this calm way of taking 
it, Walter muttered something about a scientific 
mission that had had no great results. 

“ Yes, a bright, hard metal that looks even finer 
than the real gold ? ” suggested Perez. 

“ But goes off chiefly in fumes and turns out to 


184 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


be only sulphuret of iron. I don’t mind admitting 
that my search was partly for treasure.” 

“ And again, the bluish galena, containing silver, 
but in too small supply to be worked, and then the 
yellow grains scattered through some of the lime- 
stone, but still in too slight quantities to pay for 
extraction ? ” 

“ How do you know all that ? ” 

“ ‘Bless you, I’ve been through it myself. I 
could have posted you if you had come to me. 
You may not recollect my telling you I had been 
here once, long before you were born. But, now, 
how about this bed close by? it seems to con- 
tain some very good nuggets. Are they of the 
same sort as those I noticed on the shelves in your 
cabin ? ” 

Walter, in fierce agitation and resolve, here drew 
forth his revolver without further hesitation. The 
secret was out : he was betrayed. 

“ What I have found I have a special use for. I 
cannot give it up, nor even share it. If you have 
come here with design upon it, let us settle it once 
for all. Do you take your pistol, as I will mine, 
and stand off at twelve paces. Gassol will make as 
good a second as another. Whatever of value is 
here shall belong to the survivor.” 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION. 185 

“ Have you, then, no more confidence in me than 
this, my old friend ? ” inquired the Captain, show- 
ing no trace of resentment. “You who knew 
my devotion to you should have treated me bet- 
ter.” 

“ No, not in such an affair. I feared the tempta- 
tion might be too great, not for you alone, but for 
any man. I had an object. If it had been an or- 
dinary matter ” 

“But it is precisely in extraordinary matters 
that I am most to be trusted. You should have 
known me better than my enemies. Whatever else 
I have done, my integrity has never been im- 
peached. In all my campaigning, I have never 
once engaged in plunder. A man’s virtues are 
much according to his temperament, I suppose; 
and my weakness does not lie in that direction.” 

Don Walter began to breathe more freely, and 
even to be a little ashamed. 

“ See here, now, what claim have you on me ? 
What service did you do for me when you were 
the merest kid ? ” went on Perez, with cordial 
bluffness. 

“ I don’t remember,” answered the young man, 
evasively. 

“ Well, I will remind you. I was a captive in 


186 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


the hands of my bitterest foes, who were taking me 
along to certain execution. They camped over 
night alongside the ranch where you lived then 
with your father. You were a lad and allowed to 
run freely about the camp. I asked you if you 
had a knife and could cut leather. You said you 
had, and used it upon the thongs with which I was 
bound — I feel their infernal, cramping knots now 
— so that at a favorable moment I was able to 
escape.” 

“ It was no trouble to me.” 

“ But it was a way of sparing me such a very 
considerable trouble that I have wanted to do you 
a good turn ever since. Putting you in the line of 
a little hunting does not fill the bill. Estimate 
the thing as I do. Now, here you are in a difficult 
and dangerous box, perhaps even more dangerous 
than you know : let me help you out of it.” 

His hearer struggled with a lurking doubt 
whether this were not, after all, only a specious 
means of throwing him off his guard. 

“I put myself at your disposal squarely, hon- 
estly, without a shadow of reserve : I will aid you 
to the best of my ability and by every means in 
my power.” 

“I am conquered; I am overwhelmed with 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION. 187 


shame,” said Walter. “ I trust you entirely. For- 
give me ! And see, Perez, what I have gained here 
is destined for a high and worthy end, in which 
my enjoyment has no part, but after that end is 
accomplished there will be something over, which 
you must share. And, further than that, much 
more of this liberal bounty of nature still remains, 
to become available at some future time.” 

“ We will do nothing of the kind. Believe it 
who will, money has never had any temptation for 
me, and it is now too late to change. Look at me : 
what I most wanted in youth I could not have, and 

after that Well, suffice it to say I am a rude 

fellow, and at present I have other affairs. You 
may hear more of them anon.” 

“ You knew my father, and, as I have reason to 
think, the cause of his coming here,” said Walter, 
huskily. “ Well, I want to pay it all back.” 

“I did not ask your object. I was willing to 
help you, no matter what it was.” 

To Walter, lonely and buffeted about as he had 
been, there was a blessed relief in having this 
strong shoulder to lean upon ; and never was he 
to have any reason to regret the confidence he now 
bestowed. 

He summed up the vague plans he had thought of 


188 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


for getting the treasure out of the country, feeling 
only the more clearly how hopeless it would have 
been for him to attempt it alone. In answer to a 
suggestion that it should be safely buried to await 
some change of government that might be more 
favorable to them, he said : 

“ I haven’t a single moment’s peace while it re- 
mains in Mexico. My idea is that, without wait- 
ing to secure any more at present, I ought to reap- 
pear in my own proper person, as if returned from 
my trip, and take every measure to get it to the 
United States at once.” 

“ To the United States ? that is a long way. 
Still, I suppose a ton or two of the commodity 
might be run through to the coast.” 

“ A ton or two ? but, my dear friend, a single 
million weighs nearly two tons, and I have over 
six millions. There will be freight enough for 
seventy or eighty mules, allowing twelve arrobas, 
of twenty-five pounds each, per mule.” 

“ Six millions ! Well, that is something,” cried 
the Captain, opening his eyes widely at the unex- 
pected amount, but making a prodigious effort to 
hide his surprise. “ In fact, it is a very pretty 
sum. And all that has to go for a benevolent ob- 
ject? It does not seem treating yourself quite 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION 189 

fairly. If it had been my case, I think I should 
have drawn off a little more of the golden milk for 
my own benefit.” 

“ You are forgetting that the supply gave out, 
though there is no telling what there may be in 
these beds beneath us yet. I may have half a ton 
or so extra for contingencies. You must certainly 
take a liberal share of this, and no doubt in better 
times the beds can be worked, when the product 
shall be as much yours as mine. I cannot tell you 
what a source of chagrin it is to me now not to be 
able to offer you one-half of the whole.” 

“ No more of this, my boy. Nothing shall be 
deducted from the amount except for necessary 
expenses. Take your treasure for which you have 
toiled in such an unheard-of way ? not I, indeed ! ” 

“ We will discuss that point afterward.” 

“ It’s a clear case,” said Perez, resuming a blunt, 
peremptory manner ; “ there is just one thing to 
be done, and nothing else. We must get up a 
revolution.” 

“ How ? A revolution ? ” protested Walter, in 
complete repugnance and alarm. 

“ And carry it away under cover of the ensuing 
difficulties.” 

“ I would never consent to anything so infamous 


190 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


for a scheme of private advantage. It would be 
worse than to lose it all.” 

“ Well, that is my way; I am at home there, and 
speak only of what I know,” rejoined the Captain, 
coolly. “ Why, to convoy such a train of animals 
as you need requires a regular military operation.” 

“ Say no more : it can never be done. This is 
the sort of morality that might have justified my 
distrust of you, Perez.” 

“ Wait a little, friend Walter : what if, instead 
of starting a revolution, we found one already 
made ? ” 

“ How can that be ? Please explain.” 

“ You have given me your confidence, and I will 
give you mine — just as sure it will be held sacred. 
Why do you think I am here ? ” 

“ One might guess fifty times and never strike it.” 

“ Ostensibly to look for Kaufmann, the abducted 
foreman, for whose recapture a reward has been 
offered, but really to see what kind of place this 
would be for keeping out of sight a body of men 
till they were wanted.” 

“If Kaufmann has been abducted he takes it 
very easily,” said Walter, as he had thought be- 
fore, describing his adventure with that person not 
long ago. 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION. 191 

“ To be sure he does : he is one of the society — 
one of our college chums, as it were. His disap- 
pearance was only a piece of diplomacy, and he has 
his work to do elsewhere.” 

Walter gave a slight whistle. 

“ It kindles still more the flame of discontent 
against the government at Mexico, on the ground 
of the prevailing lack of security for person and 
property ; though, to be sure, there are valid com- 
plaints enough without inventing them. What 
do you think it did the other day ? — broke into Mr. 
Wharton’s house, at the capital, and took from his 
coffers, though they were under the seals of the 
British legation, seven hundred thousand dollars. 
Just before that, their general at Tepic seized 
twenty mule-loads of silver, under pretext that it 
was being clandestinely exported. Another time a 
whole conducta of two million dollars, on the way 
to Tampico, was confiscated ; repayment was prom- 
ised when the troubles in that part of the country 
were settled. It will be a long time, I can tell you, 
before that day comes. Things are in a desperate 
way, and no mistake.” 

“And the meaning of all this is ? ” 

“ That a new era is dawning for our unhappy 
country. Our central committee at Mexico has 


192 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


long been pulling the wires ; the proclamations are 
prepared ; the blow is about to be struck. My old 
general, my hero, my idol, has returned.” He 
looked cautiously around, hardly daring to breathe 
the secret even in such a place. “ When we 
fought for him before, he did not have a fair 
chance, but this time he will succeed. He will 
put an end to these wretched dissensions, and give 
Mexico at last a government worthy of the name.” 

“When? When is it to be? for I have those 
to whose safety I must look. In my hermit life 
here I have heard nothing of all this.” 

“ You would have heard scarcely more if you 
had been outside, for the secret has been excel- 
lently kept. Nothing is yet felt here beyond a 
vague uneasiness. The besotted government it- 
self, rushing from one folly to another, does not 
appreciate the importance of the crisis. But I 
have means of knowing that the States of Du- 
rango, Jalisco, and Michoacan are already aflame, 
and the signal may be expected here at almost any 
moment.” 

“With such pressing interests awaiting you, I 
can hardly expect your attention to my affair.” 

“On the contrary, your affair is likely to be a 
godsend to us : you see the obligation will not be 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION. 193 


all on one side. The appointed date has been 
postponed on account of the sickness of our chief, 
and to give time for the ferment at the North. I 
was left at Bio Frio with a large force of men who 
had been gathered in ready for the outbreak, and 
with nothing for them to do. I sent part of them 
in various bands on the pretext of making the pil- 
grimage to El Jasmin, and with another part I 
have affected to take service under the Jefe Po- 
litico and search for Kaufmann. Don Thomas 
Corcovedo and I are, for the nonce, better friends 
than we used to be,” he added, with a laugh. 

“ He is a dangerous man, not so stupid as he 
seems, and in dealing with him you are running a 
great risk.” 

“ He is nervous about the state of the country 
just now, and seems glad of any even apparent ac- 
cession to the armed force of which he is the head. 
He will be more arrogant again when he receives 
the reinforcements he expects to keep his district 
in order.” 

“ I shall be extremely grateful for any aid you 
may give me consistent with your own project. 
What do you propose ? ” 

“ While my men are idle they are likely either to 

desert or get into some serious mischief that will 
13 


194 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


betray us. I propose that they give up the farce of 
playing at pilgrims, come down here, and transport 
your property on their backs. We may bring 
down a few mules, too; our horses showed that 
the path was practicable. My idea is that the gold 
ought to be outside the Barranca at some point 
where it could be easily accessible, if an opportu- 
nity should offer, for a rapid dash to the coast.” 

“ What point would you suggest ? ” 

“You say you have some of it hidden on the 
shore of the lake, and more of it at Cuernavaca. 
Why not collect it all at Bio Frio ? That is my 
head-quarters, beyond the jurisdiction of your 
treacherous Jefe Politico, the scene selected for 
the uprising, and a convenient point of departure 
for a military movement to the sea.” 

“ And after that ? ” 

“The rest will naturally need planning some- 
what as we go on. I have a friend, Captain Carva- 
jal, who has a schooner on the coast, engaged in 
our business. I don’t mind telling you that he 
brought back the Liberator from his exile. He 
himself must be somewhere near Puebla now, hav- 
ing come up to visit his family. I will open com- 
munications with him and try to see him person- 
ally. Carvajal is a Biscayan by birth, a bold fellow 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION. 195 

who has been in all sorts of hazardous undertak- 
ings, and if we can get him he will be just our 
man.” 

“ Good ! ” assented Walter, heartily. “ The dif- 
ficulties of the enterprise seem to be already clear- 
ing away. But, naturally, it cannot be conveyed 
openly all at once ; it must go piecemeal, by 
strategy. And are you sure your men can be 
trusted ? Will it do to let them know what they 
are dealing with ? ” 

“ Of course not. They must never see a sign of 
it. They are only to think they are transporting 
arms and supplies for the cause, disguised as sul- 
phate of copper. They are not up in fine points of 
weight and the like. We must keep the boys well 
paid, and then they can be depended upon. It will 
be a delightful novelty for them, and nobody will 
get ahead of us on that score.” 

Perez charged himself with turning some of the 
ingots into cash for the expenses of the expedition. 
They began at once to make their preparations and 
plan the necessary subterfuges. 

“ And Gassol ? ” inquired Walter, with some con- 
cern. 

“He has seen nothing of consequence, I feel 
sure. I kept my discoveries to myself. I will make 


196 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


him think your being here is a part of the plan. 
He is true as steel, and has been with us all along. 
His place was a convenient point for reunions, and 
he has been the means of bringing in some of his 
old cronies — for instance, Perfecto Ponce above, to 
whom, with your permission, we will now send up 
a few signals.” 

He and Gassol thereupon set up some flags. 

A messenger hastily came down, and was sent 
off again. Almost immediately after there began to 
steal into the canon a number of peons, such as had 
been seen about El Jasmin. They brought with 
them the various cages and other contrivances used 
by the charcoal-burners, potters, and market-people 
generally for carrying their burdens ; it was in- 
tended that the valuable freight should be dis- 
guised under a variety of forms. 

The men who came from another part of the 
country, with the example of their bold leaders be- 
fore them, and being gathered for a peculiar pur- 
pose, were far less troubled by the superstition of 
the Yellow Snake than those of the immediate 
neighborhood. Captain Perez, too, made a strong 
point in Don Walter’s favor by representing that 
the latter had come there for the express purpose 
of destroying the monster’s abode, and pointed out 


CAPTAIN PEREZ'S REVOLUTION. 197 

the effects of the blasting to show that he had 
succeeded in doing so. 

A good supply of maguey-fibre bags was also 
brought in, and Walter, with Perez, guardedly 
found means to pack all the treasure that had been 
piled in loose heaps into them in person. Under 
the eyes of so many witnesses they could take out 
no more treasure from the exposed bed. On the 
contrary, they devoted themselves to covering it up 
as much as possible. Nor could they have delayed 
for any further mining, since the conditions de- 
manded the utmost haste. 

“I think we shall do well to begin with a proces- 
sion,” proposed Captain Perez. “Religion has 
been used before now as a cloak for many a less 
worthy object.” 

“ A procession ? ” repeated Walter, puzzled. 

“ Yes ; our pilgrims will now naturally be going 
back to their homes. For a consideration, we can 
borrow a number of the figures of saints at El J as- 
min. We will fill the hollow interiors with our 
gold, and the figures can be conveyed in public 
parade to Rio Frio. There must be some pretext 
of a celebration, or, say, prayers for rain. It is a 
good while, in fact, since we have had rain enough 
in Rio Frio.” 


CHAPTER XIV. 


A PROCESSION FOR RAIN. 

Antonio Gassol and Perfecto Ponce, as citizens 
of the district, took upon themselves to negotiate 
with the cura at El Jasmin for the loan of the 
statues. When the application was backed by the 
promise of a handsome present — guaranteed by 
Captain Perez — for th^ repair of the shrine, it was 
readily granted. 

They took but a few of the best images, while a 
large number of old battered ones found in a lum- 
ber-room were utilized. 

“ It is desired to have the display as imposing as 
possible,” explained Gassol : “ anything whatever 
from this esteemed locality will be most highly 
appreciated, and our friends fear the choicer fig- 
ures might possibly come to some harm on the 
journey.” 

A great deal of mystery was made about the 
preparations, which took place chiefly under cover 
of night. Only a small number of men were ad- 


A PROCESSION FOR RAIN. 


199 


mitted with Perez and Walter to work in the court- 
yard of the chapter-house, reserved exclusively for 
this business. All was not complete till near 
morning. In the course of the night many mules 
stopped at the outer gate, and there was not a little 
bustling back and forth also by the other peons. 

When the procession moved, many of the images 
were covered up with petates — a kind of burlap — 
some even sewn up entirely, so that only a vague 
suggestion of the forms remained. The pretext for 
this was to hide their battered condition while on 
the way. Though they were made of but thin metal, 
and therefore light, it was to be noted that their 
bearers carried them with sedate and labored tread, 
which observers might have taken for reverence. 

There were women as well as men in the proces- 
sion, and little knots and files of pretended market- 
people were scattered along before, behind, and 
mingling with it. The mountaineers carried large 
wooden crates on their backs, and aided their steps 
with long poles. Some staggered under heavy 
burdens of the home-spun goods of El Jasmin. 
The potters had loads of their great, ruddy jars 
piled high above their heads, the tops carefully 
covered that the contents might not be seen. 
Others were almost concealed in bales of secate, or 


200 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


green fodder, like the Bimam wood that came to 
Dunsinane. Only a few armed men covered the 
movement, but under the dress of all were weapons 
concealed that would have made them most formid- 
able adversaries if attacked. 

The present train carried something like two- 
thirds of the treasure. Had there been force 
enough, Walter would have divided it, and moved 
the rest at the same time from the other end of the 
Barranca, picking up also on the way what he had 
hidden on the shore of Lake Jornada. Now, how- 
ever, all that portion must be returned for and 
brought off by another trip. 

“If all goes well,” said Perez, “suppose I stay 
at Bio Frio to attend to my affairs, and communi- 
cate with Carvajal, while you come back for the re- 
maining portion? Provided no suspicion is ex- 
cited this time, it will be quite in order to use the 
same route again.” 

“ A second procession ? ” 

“ Not at all ; but bringing back the statues will 
give a sufficient excuse for getting some of the men 
here once more, and they must be fitted out as or- 
dinary market-people, and the like. Keep me 
posted by trusty messengers, and I will meet you 
as you are coming down the pass. Then, if agree* 


A PROCESSION FOR RAIN. 


201 


able to you, I will take charge of the train, and you 
may go and bring off the portion left at the lake, 
for which we will have boats provided. 

So it was determined. Perez, as knowing his 
men the best, assumed the general command ; Wal- 
ter rode near the middle of the line. Brooding so- 
licitously over the safety of his treasure, he would 
have wished, had it been possible, to be in all 
places at once. He had now a new disguise, wear- 
ing a beard, but otherwise appeared in the usual 
costume adopted for adventurous expeditions. He 
wore a short jacket, a sombrero with silver braid, 
carried a carbine on his knee, pistols in his belt 
and holsters, and a large sabre clanking by his 
side. He passed for a lieutenant or superior mozo 
of Perez, hailing from another part of the coun- 
try. 

It was a gala day at Campo Florido when they 
debouched into that little hamlet. There was a 
festa de flores , or flower-festival, going on in honor 
of the patron saint, and traces of this were found 
almost all along the road to Cuernavaca, where the 
regular market-day was in progress. The trees 
were belted or garlanded with flowers, little trel- 
lises were set up here and there, music played, and 
small tables were laid out, on which, for the occa- 


202 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


sion only, gambling was allowed, the municipality 
drawing a revenue from its exercise. 

Amy, with some of the others, had come from 
the hacienda to see the novel sight. When the 
procession appeared, she was standing under a 
little pavilion by the great amape-tree near Dona 
Beatriz’s home. The nun’s house was closed, with 
an unusual air of seclusion. Naturally, they would 
not wish to look out on the gayety going on before 
them. Some of the rustics in good faith hailed 
Perez’s troopers as coming back from the search 
after Kaufmann, and inquired what success. 

“ None ? why, then the country is going to the 
dogs indeed,” they said : “ these villains of pla- 
giarios (kidnappers) have everything their own 
way again.” 

Amy turned to General del Prado to ask their 
meaning, but he was evasive, as he was wont to be 
about all the political troubles, so as not to alarm 
her. 

Nodding hedges of freshly-cut banana-plants 
adorned the sides of the street. Behind these the 
extraordinary defile of images presently hove in 
sight. Amy, in a certain consternation, at first 
thought it was dead bodies the men were carrying 
so solemnly in the stretchers on their shoulders, 


A PROCESSION FOR RAIN 


203 


but as they drew near she was undeceived. She 
found the spectacle quaint and original. The 
church-bells rang in honor of the festival — some- 
times turning over and over as in ecstasy — and the 
gayety on the surface formed a contrast indeed, 
had one known the truth, with the real object of 
the burden-bearers, sweating under their heavy 
loads. These had a certain quiet enjoyment in 
their duplicity. They uttered in a sing-song way 
the usual peasant salutations as they went along. 

“ How do you do ? — How is the family ? — Did 
you pass a pleasant night ? — May you pass a pleas- 
ant night this time ! — Until a little while ! — * 
Adios ! ” 

Trinidad Jose, who was there, with his dog be- 
hind him, took upon himself to answer these salu- 
tations for the General’s party, ignorant of the 
spice of derision they contained. Presently the 
parade rested, and many of the men scattered from 
their ranks among the various attractions of the 
festa. Some of them had already judiciously taken 
an upper road leading eastward, but the main body 
were to proceed boldly through the city itself, as a 
course less likely to excite suspicion. General del 
Prado was called away for a moment on some mat- 
ter of business. While flower-sellers particularly 


204 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


engaged the attention of the rest, a horseman found 
opportunity to approach Amy and let fall guarded- 
ly a few words in English. 

“ You again, Don Walter ? ” she exclaimed. “ Is 
not this too dangerous? What plan have you 
adopted now? ” 

“ Everything is going well,” he answered, reas- 
suringly. “ I hope soon to reappear in my proper 
person. Keep up good courage ! ” 

Amy asked the General, thereupon, to take her 
to Cuernavaca also, and in the market-place of that 
town a few more words of similar purport were ex- 
changed. Her recent depression was shaken off, 
and her heart beat with a kind of fearful gladness 
at the turn things had taken. 

“ What is the use of all this, anyway ? ” said the 
Jefe Politico, coming up to some of the men with 
the statues, with perhaps a little more than his 
customary insolence, to impress the group from 
Las Delicias. 

“ When we have had no rain for some time over 
there,” replied a spokesman, demurely, “ we bring 
out the saints, and that always succeeds. Besides, 
we expect these from the holy place to have a pe- 
culiarly good effect.” 

“ Don’t you know the saints don’t make the 


A PROCESSION FOR RAIN. 


205 


weather, you ? There’s a people for you ! ” in great 
disgust. “ The weather is made by — it is — er — 
for example, now — the full moon — the rotation of 
the sun — when you want to know anything about 
those matters, come to my office. I can tell you 
everything on science, absolutely everything.” 

“ Yes, Excellency, henceforth we shall always do 
so.” 

“ And, you know, you take a very lazy gait, you 
men, as if these things were heavy. You cumber 
up the market-place with them. I would guarantee 

to carry a whole one myself All, ten million 

devils ! shoo ! get away with you ! ” 

He jumped back and made a cut with his whip 
at his namesake, Trinidad Jose’s Corcovedo. 
The animal, either well trained in his master’s hos- 
tility or sharing it by instinct, had taken advantage 
of the dignitary’s bending posture to make a long- 
ing snap at his legs. 

General del Prado apologized for the animal’s 
misconduct, but the Jefe was furious and would 
not accept any apology. 

“ I can tell you it won’t do to have your dogs 
snapping at the legs of a high official in times like 
these ! ” he exclaimed, savagely. “ It behooves 
everybody to be thinking how he stands with the 


206 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


government, instead of causing it annoyance and 
suspicion.” 

As the cackling of the geese saved Rome, this 
trivial incident prevented his making a discovery 
that might have resulted in very serious conse- 
quences. The men picked up their load again, and 
— especially as they had been enjoined to do so — 
vacated the plaza as soon as possible. They 
melted away insensibly, as it were, sloping down 
the side streets, stopping at various places to re- 
fresh themselves, and then taking to the road in 
small detachments. Antonio Gassol entertained 
many of them, and the Alma de Mexico was for a 
time a scene of crowded animation. So also — that 
no invidious distinction might be remarked — was 
the Bella Union. 

The market-people who had accompanied them 
vanished in like manner, not easily missed among 
the unusual throng in the place that day. The 
make-believe devotees had a particular head-quar- 
ters at a corral engaged by Perez, and from this 
corral just at dusk, and for some time after, a con- 
siderable number of mules issued forth, lightening 
the loads so that the march could be pressed with 
greater speed. 

Needless to describe all the small incidents, de- 


A PROCESSION FOR RAIN. 


207 


lays, and well-grounded fears that attended such a 
march. The general rendezvous was about ten 
miles to the east of Cuernavaca. The party 
camped there for the night, under some large 
forest trees. They were astir again at dawn, went 
on that day, and, waiting discreetly till the shades 
of the second night had fallen, entered Rio Frio. 
Their loads were deposited in a thick-walled meson , 
or caravansary, retained by Perez, around which a 
strong guard was posted. A semblance of a pro- 
cession for rain was held the next day, and then 
the men, a few at a time, were sent back with the 
figures to El Jasmin. 

Meanwhile, General del Prado, stung by the in- 
sulting words he had endured for a second time 
from the Jefe Politico, started next morning for 
Mexico, to observe the complexion of affairs there, 
see how he stood with the government, and how 
he had best adapt himself to the coming troubles. 

Thus two-thirds of the treasure was safe at Rio 
Frio. Don Walter Arroyo waited only to see it 
carefully bestowed, and then set out with a single 
servant behind him, and at nightfall entered 
Cuernavaca as having returned from the United 
States. 

The aunts received him with open arms. They 


208 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


accepted all his excuses with full confidence. He 
had come by a trading- vessel, it appeared, instead 
of the regular steamer, a more favorable bargain 
having offered in this way, and he had not written, 
in order to surprise them. 

“ But — this in confidence ” — he said, “ I must 
soon be off again to the United States. I hope it 
will not be for long. A business connection is 
open to me there which it would be injustice to 
myself to neglect.” 

Alas ! their wild bird had flown from the nest, 
and they feared it would be long indeed before he 
returned to it. To acquaintances Walter said he 
had little good to report of the United States — 
knowing this was the way in which he could best 
escape embarrassing questions — but excused him- 
self from entering into much detail, on the score of 
pressing affairs awaiting his attention. Letting a 
day or two elapse for the sake of appearances, 
during which he found means of despatching the 
small hoard from his own house to Perez, he de- 
clared he must be off to visit the country property 
and his neglected ranch. 

On the way he stopped to see Amy : now at last 
he could visit her openly. He had hardly been 
able to check his burning impatience till the time 


A PROCESSION FOR RAIN. 


209 


came. What a long and delicious talk they held, 
in one of their fragrant bowers in the garden, on 
all the aspects of the case ! They sat again by the 
spring that had befriended them, and looked off at 
the distant mountain-peak which seemed covered 
with powdered sugar in the warm tropical land- 
scape. Since the earthquake the basin no longer 
bubbled, but in all other respects Las Delicias had 
escaped intact. How often had Amy sat there 
alone, a prey to the terrors of her imagination ! 
how often had she fancied her friend lying dead in 
the wild Barranca, his hapless corpse fitfully illu- 
mined by the lava flames ! She was rapt with en- 
thusiasm now at his magnificent success. But all 
danger was by no means yet over, as appeared 
when, without betraying the secret of the political 
movement, he gave her an outline of his plans. 

“ We shall march in force from Rio Frio,” he 
said. “ There we shall have mules, and our por- 
ters will be transformed into fighting-men. You 
used to profess a fancy for the romantic. Well, 
now I ask you to look at us a little in that way, for 
surely there is an element of romance in an expe- 
dition like ours.” 

“ But you will be in danger — ah, you smile ; I 
could never make that have any weight with you ; 

14 


210 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


but — but you do not wish to fight and sacrifice 
lives ? Think how badly you will feel when you 
reach New York if anything of that kind has hap- 
pened.” 

“ None but villains will try to stop us, and they 
will deserve whatever happens to them. The 
country will be all the better for their taking off. 
No one shall have this treasure while I live.” 

“ Oh, why will you talk so ? ” she appealed, la- 
menting. “Is it not true that ‘all that a man hath 
he will give for his life ? ’ ” 

“ Till this is over I do not feel that I have even 
begun to live,” he replied, gloomily. “ But let us 
not discuss that. Before long, I trust, we shall 
meet in New York. When we meet there I shall 
have a wonderful story to tell you ; but till 
then ” 

Amy speculated tremblingly whether this was to 
be at last a disclosure of his love for herself, a love 
she so greatly craved. 

They spoke of Dona Beatriz. 

“ She has hardly been seen in public since the 
return from El Jasmin,” said Amy. “ She seemed 
terribly alarmed by the earthquake ; she was even 
more depressed on the way down than I was, 
though I had all my other troubles besides to think 


A PROCESSION FOR RAIN. 211 

of. She is living in strict seclusion. I went there 
to try to find her the day of the festa, but Sister 
Praxedis brought me word she would see nobody. 
How she recognized you at El Jasmin remains the 
greatest of mysteries.” 

Walter told her of the intercepted letter — sup- 
pressing its purport — and then, little by little, as 
to one to whom all confidence is due, of the whole 
interview, except as to the place where the riches 
of the convent were buried ; for this knowledge be- 
longed to no one, not even to himself. 

“ And why did you not take this treasure, and 
this true affection ? ” asked Amy, genuinely marvel- 
ling at him. 

He remained stubbornly silent as to his motive. 

He was asking himself speciously if it were not 
really his duty now to ask the right to throw his 
protection round her and watch over her during 
the approaching troubles. 

“No, no,” his fixed conviction still answered, 
“ the time has not come : all may yet fail. No 
danger can come to her under the guardianship of 
this most influential family.” 

How peculiarly fair she was, even in spite of her 
worn look, after his long deprivation of the sight 
of her ! how small a victory it would have seemed 


212 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


for him to have overcome even far greater blandish- 
ments for her sake ! Their hands trembled with 
agitation as they touched in parting. 

What madness ! what utterly unwarrantable 
conduct ! what a yielding to temptation after all 
the severe resolutions he had but just now regis- 
tered ! Swayed by an impulse he could not con- 
trol — one that seemed to gain the sweet girl as 
well — hardly knowing what he did, Walter took 
Amy fairly in his arms, held her rounded form for 
one delicious instant against his own, kissed her 
peach-like cheeks, her brow, her lovely hair, her 
lips. 

“ Don Walter ! ” she simply protested, in an 
indescribable murmur of gentle resistance that 
haunted him many a long day after like a refrain 
of music, or like one of those wafts of exquisite 
aroma sometimes bless the traveller in spring- 
time on a mountain road, coming from what 
quarter he knows not, nor given out by what un- 
seen, unknown flower. 


CHAPTER XY. 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN. 

While he was still hesitating after the tremors 
of this blissful experience, uncertain whether the 
effort to go were not too great, a hue and cry was 
raised at a distance, and Trinidad Jose came run- 
ning to them for protection. His offence in nam- 
ing his dog had been discovered by the Jefe Po- 
litico, or, at least, by some of his men. A number 
of swashbucklers of the newly-arrived Third Bat- 
talion had met him on the road and resented the 
insult to their chief. They had set upon him vio- 
lently, but he had been able to give them the slip 
through his acquaintance with a short cut across 
the fields. 

“ Even if I get off now, I shall never dare show 
myself outside the hacienda again,” he said. 

“ Then join me to-night at my rancho of Cruce 
Vivo,” Walter proposed to him. “ I will give you 
some work to do up there that will be better, at 


214 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


any rate, than hiding here. Meantime, stow your- 
self away, and I will deal with these pursuers.” 

Trinidad Jose took refuge in one of the comer 
pavilions above the great fish-pond, where he 
buried himself under the fruit. Some of the 
ribald soldiers immediately came rushing up the 
garden alleys. Walter rebuked them sternly, and 
Don Angel, a youth of hot spirit, whose ears the 
disturbance had also reached, arrived with a band 
of employees hastily mustered. The intruders 
upon this retired, but muttered impudently some- 
thing about coming again. One said to another : 

“Very pretty pickings such a place as this 
would make. My idea is that all these top swells 
ought to be laid under handsome contributions.” 

The times were growing troublous indeed, and it 
were well if the General were home again. He re- 
turned, in fact, within two or three days, and his 
manner disclosed no small uneasiness. He was a 
man rather slow to action and far better adapted 
for the peaceful arts of civilized life than for the 
turmoil of a revolutionary period. Himself up- 
right and honorable, no very ardent admirer of the 
present administration, and yet, on the other hand, 
by no means ready to countenance the pretensions 
of the so-called Liberator, he had perhaps perse- 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN. 215 


vered in a policy of inaction much too long. He 
confided to his wife that he had been met only by 
an offensive rebuff by the ruling powers at Mexico, 
no employment had been offered him, and he had 
come back alarmed even as to his own safety. He 
had adopted a resolution on the way home. To 
Amy he said : 

“I will not conceal from you that this is no 
ordinary crisis. Nor is the trouble likely to be 
soon over. I should not be doing my duty either 
to you or your family if I allowed you to be subject 
to any danger. I propose to take my family to 
Jalapa to remain quietly away from the centre of 
the disturbances. Then I will return to defend the 
hacienda. Angel, who is a brave boy, will take 
care of it meantime. We must set out at once.” 

“Whatever you think is best, General. I am 
quite willing to go to Jalapa.” 

“ Oh, no ; I was coming to the point. The dis- 
turbances may break out there too. I have been 
obliged to make another plan for you. The Amer- 
ican minister is to sail from Vera Cruz immediately 
with a number of families who are fleeing from the 
country, and I have arranged to place you also 
under his charge. We will meet him at the railway 
junction of Apizaco. There is no immediate cause 


216 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


for alarm, you know,” he said, soothingly, “but we 
shall do well to make all possible speed while 
things are still quiet.” 

But to the family he spoke much more frankly. 
He told how the dread insurgent chief Socorro 
Beyes had broken out again in the State of Micho- 
acan, and Nunez in the Canton of Tepic. The 
British man-of-war Amethyst had landed troops to 
save Colima from a forced loan imposed upon it by 
brigands. The mayor-domo of a large hacienda on 
the Plains of Apam had pronounced with about a 
hundred men, and been cut to pieces by the gov- 
ernment troops. On the other hand, a government 
force of twice the same number had been massacred 
by the Indian population of Guerrero. 

“ There is a growing conviction,” he said, “ that 
most of this is in the interest of a noted revolu- 
tionist about to return from his exile at New Or- 
leans. Some even think he is in the country 
already.” 

His words at first caused astonishment and dis- 
may in the household, but this soon came to an 
end. In countries where armed strife is frequent, 
women and children are often quiet and self- 
contained even under fire. The hacienda was also 
put in its best state of defence. “Jalapa is a 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN. 217 

charming place — such a fresh green landscape,” 
said the Madre, cheerfully, trying hard to be 
reconciled, 4 4 and the women are so pretty. 4 Las 
Jalapenas son halaguenas,’ ” repeating a proverb 
meaning that the maids and dames of Jalapa are 
an unusually captivating race. 

44 Yes, we have some cousins there, and it will be 
very nice,” added Luz. 

4 4 Nothing can ever be so charming to me as Las 
Delicias,” said Amy, with a sigh. 

The news of their preparations was brought to 
the Jefe Politico, and he gathered a band to stop 
their departure. As often happens in revolutionary 
countries, he seized upon the political troubles 
as an opportunity to gratify his private malice. 
Events had moved rapidly in the past few days. 
Senor Corcovedo also had his special intelligence 
from Mexico. An unusual force was now placed at 
his disposal to keep his district quiet, and he as- 
sumed dictatorial powers. He was sustained at the 
capital by two persons high in authority, whose 
creature he was. They were no friends of General 
del Prado, and doubtless he took his cue from 
them. 

While on his road he was met by Pablo, who 
had been engaged in various odd jobs in his service 


218 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


since leaving that of Walter, and who now besought 
an interview. 

“Well, be quick about it; don’t mumble your 
head off,” said the Jefe, offensively. 

“ I was right in what I told you before : Don 
Walter Arroyo is not at the Norte : he is in this 
country. He is very bold, about it, too, and I have 
just seen him.” 

“Have you, indeed? remarkable, isn’t it, con- 
sidering he returned by the steamer some days ago,” 
indulging in a sarcasm which was very rare for 
him. 

The informant was quite chapfallen at this. “ I 
have been up the pass for some time,” said he, 
“ and I didn’t know what was going on here.” 

“ No, I’ll warrant you didn’t, nor anywhere else 
either. Awhile ago you told me you had seen a 
peon you suspected to be Don Walter. At the same 
time another of my men had heard a peon who 
seemed to be something more than a peon talking 
with Dona Beatriz. Between you, you made out 
that it must be the same one. I set a watch for him 
on your recommendation at Dona Beatriz’s house, 
but he has not turned up there. If you can tell me 
anything useful about that mysterious person, and 
where and when he is going to dig up the nuns’ 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN 219 

treasure, go ahead, in God’s name. If you can’t, be 
off with you before I warm you with this whip. 
Don’t give me any more prophecies of Pere- 
grullo.” 

He half raised his whip, but relenting, went on : 

“ What a fine pair you were, anyway, to let your 
interesting individual give you the slip and vanish 
out of sight entirely, while you took time to refresh 
yourselves and bring back the news of his presence 
to me ! ” 

“ It was the earthquake, your most exalted Ex- 
cellency, that broke up everything. The man 
seemed to be swallowed up in it, and we were all 
terribly alarmed, because it was the worst known 
in many years.” 

“ Am I one to be talked to of your alarms — I to 
whom fear is absolutely unknown?” 

“ I don’t know how it is, but somehow I still 
think I was right about him.” 

“ About whom ? ” 

“ Don Walter. He’s coming down the mountain 
now with a lot of men carrying off heaven only 
knows what, though he will probably affect not to 
belong to them.” 

“ What is all this to me, you ? What have I to 
do with your Don Walter or Don devil, anyway? ” 


220 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ He is a man who ridicules your Excellency,” 
responded Pablo, artfully, seeking a sting. 

“ Cciramba ! I am not a person to be ridiculed, 
and I have noticed the young sprig is much 
given to ridiculing people. Well, then, what do 
you say he is carrying off ? ” 

“Being on the mountain again, with my eyes 
about me, a few days ago, I saw Don Walter come 
up with Trinidad Jose. I had followed them to 
Cruce Vivo, and thence to the Barranca of Cimar- 
ron. I had much difficulty, on account of many 
men who seemed to be on guard, but still I had an 
opportunity to see that some mysterious opera- 
tions were going on at the Barranca. Numerous 
persons came up carrying heavy bags. I managed 
to mingle with them at El Jasmin, and found that 
they were the same ones that had been engaged in 
the procession. They had brought back the statues, 
and they now pretend that there is a scarcity of 
provisions at Rio Erio, and they embrace the 
chance to carry there what is needed. But it is my 
opinion that this is only a blind and they are tak- 
ing away something valuable from the Barranca.” 

“ But you have told me yourself the Barranca is 
an utterly disagreeable, useless place. It is be- 
cause he forced you to go there that you hate him.” 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN. 221 

“ Yes ; but I have sometimes thought since that 
he might have found something worth while in it.” 

“ Then why the devil didn’t you go down and 
see?” 

“ The Yellow Snake is very unlucky, your illus- 
trious Excellency.” 

“ Ah, bah ! Well, I’ll take a look into the baggage 
of these worthies — at your risk, do you understand ; 
if I find you’ve been deceiving me it will be worse 
for you. Just now, you observe, I have other 
things to do.” 

“ But they are only just behind me. I hurried 
on in advance to warn you. They may get off with 
their plunder if you do not look well to it.” 

At the j miction of the main road with that to 
Las Delicias and the mountain-path lay a group of 
roofless buildings, the vestiges of a country-house 
ruined in former wars. Fortunately for Seilor Cor- 
covedo, who could not fully make up his mind to 
change his plan of going to play the ruffian and 
tyrant at the hacienda, the small cortege of the Del 
Prado family was approaching, and already near 
this point. Corcovedo drew up his force across 
the road and intercepted them. 

Almost at the same moment Captain Perez 
dashed up, on his way to rejoin Walter. This was 


222 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


the first semblance of danger he had yet fallen in 
with, but he felt it might have been much worse 
when he came to learn the intention of the Jefe 
Politico. Though he had no great interest in 
General del Prado, he had not a little in Amy on 
Walter’s account. With an insinuating, politic ’way 
he well knew how to employ at need, he begged to 
offer his mediation, but this Senor Corcovedo 
brusquely rejected. 

“ I demand your passport,” he had said, roughly, 
to the General, on halting him. 

“My passport? What need have I of a pass- 
port, who am so well known to you ? ” 

“ I have received orders that all persons travel- 
ling without passports are to be arrested, and the 
laws concerning conspiracy applied to them.” 

“ Such a law was indeed talked of while I was at 
Mexico, but it has never been published here. In 
any event, such laws are not for me,” rejoined the 
General, haughtily. 

“We will see about that. I will hold you as my 
prisoner for attempting to leave the district with- 
out authority.” 

With what ineffable contempt the lustrous orbs 
of Senorita Luz blazed at this man who had once 
aspired to call himself her lover ! 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN. 223 


“ But I am an American citizen, and General del 
Prado has only set out to place me under the pro- 
tection of the minister of my country. I demand 
that we shall not be interrupted,” interposed Amy, 
astonished at her own temerity. 

“ Oh, very well ; I have no means of knowing 
about that, but I suppose we may take your word 
for it,” responded the Jefe, sneeringly. “You may 
go on by yourself.” 

But now the head of an irregular column of mar- 
ket-people was seen coming down the mountain- 
path. There seemed an unusual number of women 
among them, dressed in the Egyptian-like blue re- 
boso and skirt. The foremost ones came swiftly on, 
making little of their burdens, as their way is, and 
the soldiers opened slightly to let them pass 
through. Don Walter appeared riding only as if 
with and not of them. The real and false market- 
people were mingled together. 

A whistle was heard, and nearly all stopped 
where they were. No great number had yet come 
in sight. Captain Perez dreaded the ill effect on 
Walter of the situation of affairs, and he pushed 
over toward him to counsel prudence. 

“ Surely there can be no reason for detaining or 
annoying these friends from the hacienda of Las 


224 


THE TELLOW SNAKE. 


Delicias,” said Walter to the Jefe ; “ there must be 
some mistake here.” 

“ Oh, of course we shall account for it to you at 
leisure. Meanwhile, you are my prisoner too,” 
presenting a revolver at his head. 

“I your prisoner? ” he returned, calmly, thrilled 
through every fibre with a sense of the danger, yet 
desirous to retain his utmost coolness on account 
of the vastness of the interests at stake; “and 
pray on what account ? ” 

“You are charged with converting the public 
domain to your own use, and I demand an account 
of what your followers here are taking away.” 

He had signalled to a part of his men to guard the 
first prisoners, and to the rest to close up around 
himself. The two groups were not a little mixed 
together. At the sight of the pistol aimed at Wal- 
ter, Amy Colebrook, whose anxious eye had been 
upon all this, was so ’wrought upon by an inten- 
sity of dread, that she gave utterance to a most 
piercing feminine shriek. She saw not only the 
present danger of her hero, but the ruin impend- 
ing over his grand project. So penetrated with 
exquisite agony was this shriek, so vivid and 
startling, that it irresistibly drew the attention of 
everyone. 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN. 225 

In this instant of diversion, while the eyes of the 
Jefe Politico unwittingly turned with the rest, a 
figure which appeared to be a woman, but was in 
reality Trinidad Jose, sprang swiftly upon him, 
caught his extended arm, and dragged him down 
from the saddle. Captain Perez at the same time 
made his broad-breasted charger wheel and plunge 
roughly among the crowd, and cried, in a stentorian 
voice — 

“ A mistake ! a mistake ! Stand back ! do not 
fire ! Some mistake is here ! ” 

“ Pin him, Corcovedo ! pin him, boy ! ” called 
Trinidad Jose ; and the dog devoted himself with 
a gusto to helping at last a sweet, long-deferred 
vengeance. 

The men, disorganized by the fall of their chief 
and the cry of Perez, knew not at first what to do. 
But they were regulars, and soon recovered their 
equanimity. They fired at Jose and his dog — 
though both miraculously escaped unhurt — set the 
Jefe again on his horse, then formed in good order 
and sent a telling volley after the scattering peas- 
ants. They began to follow them, but soon real- 
izing that discretion was the better part of valor, 
they retired to the ruined country-house, still keep- 
ing the Del Prado family as prisoners. 

15 


226 


TILE YELLOW SNAKE. 


A loud, shrill call summoned into sight a much 
larger force of the peasants. Those in disguise 
threw off their women’s costumes, and all prepared 
for the attack. In the melee some shouts for the 
Liberator had inadvertently been raised ; the war- 
cry was thus heard, and the movement identified 
henceforth with that of the revolution. 

“ The campaign has begun,” commented Perez, 
philosophically. “Very well, it can’t be helped; 
we are in for it, and we’ll take the consequences.” 

It was clearly necessary, in the sequel, that they 
should retreat, but they determined first to cripple 
the enemy, to prevent a too speedy pursuit. Still 
more important in Walter’s eyes was the rescuing 
of the prisoners. A plan of attack was quickly ar- 
ranged : one body was to advance along the road, 
another to make a feint in flank, while a third 
should steal round under cover of a thick field of 
bananas and take the enemy in the rear. But 
these latter were no novices in this kind of warfare, 
and, as without the help of artillery every adobe 
wall may become a redoubt, they stoutly held their 
own. It was not till another force, under young 
Don Angel — who had been notified at the hacienda 
of what was going on — came hurrying and yelling 
across the fields that they finally gave up. They 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN. 227 

broke from their intrenchments and fled in wild 
confusion, with much loss. 

Amy Colebrook had a brief glimpse of Walter 
under a guise in which it is rarely given to women 
to see their heroes. She hardly knew him, and w^as 
almost afraid of him. The rage of battle was still 
upon him, he was bleeding from a slight bullet- 
wound across the cheek, and a revolver smoked in 
his hand. He was bursting in a gate, at the head 
of a storming-party, when the enemy took to 
flight. 

But this in no way interfered with his affection- 
ate consideration for her. He was inclined to re- 
tire from view, as if his appearance were an offence 
against etiquette. He quickly detailed Captain 
Perez to guard the General’s party to Rio Frio, 
leaving him, Don Walter, to his own resources. 
Perez strongly expostulated at this, but the other 
would not be gainsaid. 

“ Go at once ! ” insisted Walter, almost imperi- 
ously. “ They must be conveyed to a place of 
safety. Now that they are supposed to be identi- 
fied with the insurrection, there is no telling what 
penalties they would suffer if captured. You 
are light, and can keep the start you have got.” 

“ And you ? ” 


228 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


“ We shall retire up the pass again to the Bar- 
ranca, and go out again by Lake Jornada. Be 
sure you see we have some boats and what aid you 
can spare available there. I shall contest every 
inch of the way if necessary, but we know our 
route better than they do now, and, heavily loaded 
as we are, no other would be possible.” 

Meanwhile, all the bells in the town pealed out 
a hoarse and jangling alarm, the shops and 
churches were closed, and good citizens barred 
their doors at the bursting of this sudden war- 
cloud. 

The Jefe Politico had been within an ace of 
capture himself ; he certainly could not have es- 
caped if his opponents had had but a little more 
time to follow. He was furious with rage, and 
choked with chagrin at the ignominious fate that 
had befallen him, and yet, inspired with a salutary 
dread, too, by the lesson he had received, he 
made none too active preparations to revenge him- 
self. 

But Pablo thrust under his nose some specimens 
from one of the bags of treasure let fall during the 
flight. 

“ See here,” said he, “ this is the kind of stuff 
they pick up at the Barranca : it ought to be good 


A FIERCE ENEMY SWOOPS DOWN 229 

enough for us. Better give the nuns’ treasure a 
rest for awhile.” 

From that moment it was no question either of 
pursuing General del Prado or of attacking — just 
yet — Las Delicias : he gathered his whole force 
and set out in hot chase after Don Walter, lired by 
the keenest zest for gain. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


FROM CAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 

Corcovedo counted by a rapid pursuit, if not on 
capturing the fugitives, on forcing them to throw 
down their burdens, the securing of which was 
far more important for him. But Don Walter — 
pressing into the service, besides, all the mules he 
could lay hands on along the way — got an extraor- 
dinary speed out of his heavy-laden men. He 
hurled great rocks down into the path behind him, 
and covered his march with a small rear-guard 
which kept the enemy in continual dread of being 
ambuscaded. 

The district was practically deserted, the native 
laborers having fled for fear of being seized for 
military duty ; all doors in El Jasmin were tightly 
closed, only a few dogs came out and barked at the 
heels of the retreating warriors. At night the rain 
came down heavily, and they went on in a soaked 
and sodden condition, often knee-deep in mud, 
their fire-arms rusting even as they bore them. 


FROM CAMPO FLOUIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 231 

At midnight, overcome with fatigue, they camped 
at some deserted huts, but next morning an ample 
breakfast and the renewed splendor of an un- 
clouded sun restored their spirits. 

Retreating in this masterly manner, it was not 
till the hamlet of Huetongo was reached that they 
were overtaken by the enemy, and even then only 
because Walter permitted it. He thought best to 
make a stand at this point, and he fortified himself 
by levelling some of the small houses and throwing 
a barricade across the entrance of the main street, 
from the fonda on one side to the parish church on 
the other. He felt the necessity of striking a blow 
and holding the adversaries severely in check, 
otherwise they would press too closely upon the 
expedition at the critical moment of entering the 
Barranca, which could not but have a disastrous 
effect. 

Corcovedo advanced three times and was as often 
beaten back, and when he finally made himself 
master of the position — having at last adopted the 
policy of setting fire to the buildings and moving 
by slow and cautious approaches — he found it had 
been deserted some time before. Straight sticks 
simulating musket-barrels, and hats stuck upon 
twigs had been arranged to mislead him. So en- 


232 THE YELLOW SNAKE. 

raged was he at the deception and at his loss that 
he brutally despatched a few of Walter’s wounded 
who had been left behind. 

He came up with the retreating party anew at 
the borders of the Barranca. But, thanks to the 
stout defence at the breastworks, the greater part 
of the treasure was already at the bottom of the 
trail. Again a skilful rear-guard hotly contested 
the way. Here, too, a new subterfuge was em- 
ployed. Mules with mock loads of treasure and 
loudly-tinkling bells were sent down by misleading 
paths, and also through the jungle along the edge 
of the chasm. These were eagerly followed, and 
served to distract attention from the real move- 
ments. The valiant rear-guard, directed by Walter, 
having accomplished all that was possible above, 
now plunged down the steep descent. They took 
refuge in nooks and crannies, and, aided by skilful 
sharp-shooting from below, still fired back with 
telling effect upon the aggressors. Now and then 
one on each side fell in his tracks. The enemy 
rolled down huge fragments of rock, as in some 
battle of the giants ; but these, after all, were more 
terrifying than dangerous. 

The train was well on its way again along the 
bottom of the Barranca before Corcovedo’s men 


FROM CAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 233 


fairly entered it. As they formed and began to 
press forward, they were startled and given pause 
for awhile by a dire explosion. Walter had con- 
centrated all his remaining explosives at a single 
point, and now fired the mine. Its effect was to 
remove the artificial dyke thrown up by the late 
earthquake and allow the boiling stream to rush in 
over its old bed once more. The accumulated treas- 
ure was now safely hidden from every human eye. 
Up to this last moment he had cherished a linger- 
ing hope of being able to take out a still further 
amount. 

Pablo, for his part, stared round the canon with 
greedy and fearful eye, but nothing was as it had 
been on the occasion of his visit with his master. 
The superstition of the Yellow Snake still held 
good with his companions, and it was only with 
great difficulty that some of them were urged for- 
ward. Those who had objected most strenuously 
were joined to a body of reinforcements which had 
come up and were sent to skirt along the margin of 
the Barranca. What with the difficulties of the 
ground and the caution inspired by the prowess of 
the pursued, the advance below was necessarily 
slow, but Corcovedo said, with savage glee : 

“ We shall take them presently like rats in a trap.” 


234 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


He counted on pushing them from behind while 
the co-operating force should cut them off on their 
exit in front. Walter, too, saw this danger, and he 
began to be weighed down by a heavy depression. 
His men had effected prodigies of valor, but as 
likely as not defeat and destruction finally awaited 
them. Then, too, all these desperate deeds had 
been done, these lives had been lost, and he felt 
that the treasure, even if saved, must be tinged for 
evermore as with the lurid stain of blood. But this 
mood was not of long duration ; his indomitable 
courage reasserted itself. There was hope in the 
fact that the force above, making their way by a 
route which they opened for the first time, pro- 
gressed at a slower rate than his own. He urged 
on his command yet faster, doubling and again 
tripling their pay as an inducement; but after 
awhile the enemy above disappeared from sight, and 
then the result was only a matter of conjecture. 
In this march fell at last poor Trinidad Jose ; and 
his faithful dog, who had been the cause of so much 
amusement, having stayed behind, pining over his 
master’s body, came to be despatched by a cruel 
blow from a sabre. 

The canon narrowed rapidly toward its termina- 
tion. At this point, to which the mules were only 


FROM OAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 235 

got with great difficulty, extended across a formid- 
able natural mound or palisade. As Walter neared 
it, he feared every instant to see the heads of foes 
appear above it from the other side, but he was 
not yet intercepted. The barrier was an excellent 
place behind which to withstand an enemy either 
from within or without, but, naturally, could not 
be made available on both sides. He determined 
to hold it against the pursuers while awaiting the 
return of a reconnoitring-party sent out to look for 
the expected boats and aid from Captain Perez. 
Failing these, he would march on, and, if need 
were, perish on the shore of the lake. 

From the top a scene of peculiar beauty and 
grandeur presented itself. The lake, in a great 
crater ring, formed perhaps by the same agencies 
that had rent the grim Barranca through the 
mountain, spread out from a desolate alkali- 
whitened shore in front to vast mountains beyond. 
A stepping-stone as it were to the mountains, rose 
a green table-land so high as to seem almost inac- 
cessible, and among the peaks was one topped 
with snow, of which Walter had sometimes caught 
glimpses during his labors. 

The lake was not an unbroken stretch of water, 
for, besides a little rocky island of conical form, it 


236 


THE TELLOW SNAKE. 


had frequent expanses of the extraordinary growth 
known as chinampas, a kind of amphibious meadow 
more or less free from attachment to the bottom, 
and often so light as to be driven before the winds. 
Near the shore, irregular channels extended among 
them, connecting one open space with another. 

The crack of rifles in a new attack of the pur- 
suers had already begun when the searching- 
party returned. They brought back with them a 
gruff sort of individual in a fur cap, who proved to 
be an American named Bamley. He belonged to a 
command, chiefly composed of foreigners, which 
was secreted with the runaway Kaufmann in the 
mountains, waiting to take part in the expected 
uprising. Captain Perez had communicated with 
Kaufmann, who had detailed Bamley with perhaps 
a corporal’s guard of men to assist in the matter of 
the boats. He had lately come down from the 
wind-swept mining gorges of Pachuca, where a fur 
cap was not out of place, and he chose to wear his 
just the same in the tropics also. 

“A little time’s been lost by my coming back 
with your men to see if you were the right parties,” 
said he, “ but that’s better than making a mistake. 
You can have two canoas , one big one, pretty 
heavy and slow, the other small and medium fast, 


FROM OAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 237 

but they’ll carry you, and they were the best we 
could do in these times. This end of the lake is 
pretty well skinned of boats, and it has mighty few 
at any time : so I don’t see how anyone’s going to 
follow you.” 

“ And yet we had no time to lose,” rejoined Wal- 
ter. “Hark ! there’s the enemy’s other division 
cheering now. They have heard the firing, and are 
probably coming down on us. We may be even 
now too late to escape them.” 

“ They’ve got another division, have they ? ” 

“ Yes, the principal one is above there.” 

“ I’m glad to know that,” said Barnley. “ It 
would be mighty inconvenient for Kaufmann to 
have them come on him unawares after you’ve giv- 
en them the slip. I’ll tell you what I’ll do : if you’ll 
take care of these I’ll agree to stop the others with 
my own squad. If I can get to the Cajones — the 
Boxes — in time, I can hold them as long as you 
please. The Cajones is the most elegant place to 
comer a company you don’t want to bother you. 
As like as not those parties won’t get here before 
to-morrow morning.” 

“ But we cannot sacrifice you to our convenience.” 

“ Oh, don’t you be afraid about me. I know 
plenty of holes around there to hide in afterward.” 


238 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


Encouraged by the distant cheering of their 
friends, the pursuers made a new onset. There 
was another battle, many more lives were lost, but 
the rear-guard stood firm as before, and under cover 
of its defence and the gathering dusk Walter em- 
barked with all his goods and chattels on the boats. 
There was no time now to think of unearthing any 
other treasure, and the portion he had buried on the 
shore was abandoned to wait till who could say 
what distant day in the dim future before it should 
see the light. 

Snap ! snap ! from the pistols, and crack ! crack ! 
crack! from the rifles of the baffled Corcovedo, 
who was left in impotent rage on the darkening 
strand. The men, sheltering themselves behind the 
piled-up bags, plied their paddles with all speed. 

The canoas were clumsy but capacious flat-boats 
of but a few inches’ draught. When the night set- 
tled down, all lights were put out, that their where- 
abouts might not be disclosed to the enemy if by 
any chance they were followed. Walter remained 
in the last and heaviest of them, which was the 
post of danger. Toward midnight, when trying 
to get a little sleep in a low cabin amidships, 
he was aroused by a dull thud and all-pervading 
jar. 


FROM OAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA . 239 

“ The chinampas ! the chinampas ! ” called out 
the alarmed voices of the watch. 

The wind had changed and insensibly enclosed 
them in the clogging embrace of this strange vege- 
tation. A hail from the smaller boat in advance, 
almost immediately after, showed that it had met 
with the same fate. They were not completely 
surrounded, and the men worked strenuously with 
long poles to free themselves, but all this could 
effect nothing. 

The chinampas were formed of a nucleus of 
water-plants closely interwoven. Upon this a thin 
soil had formed by decomposition : the mud of the 
lake, washing over them in storms, and the dust 
blown by the winds, had added to it ; then flowers, 
reeds, and grasses had sprung up; the thickness 
varied from a few inches to several feet, and below 
them was deep water. 

Don Walter found himself condemned to pass the 
rest of the night listening to the frogs and watching 
the twinkling fire-flies in the marshes. He was 
like one in a nightmare, who feels the imperious 
need of straining every nerve for flight yet is be- 
numbed and cannot raise hand or foot. Once a 
bluish flame danced on the high top of the small 
cone-shaped island of La Gopa which lay in his 


240 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


course. His fears made it seem some signal of the 
enemy, who he fancied had already got in his van, 
but he heard one of the men say it was only “ the 
witches’ fire,” a kind of natural will-o’-the-wisp that 
often burned there and indicated a breeze in the 
morning. 

When morning came, however, a gray mist hung 
for awhile over everything, which was a fortunate 
circumstance. Walter recalled the voyagers shut 
in amid the ice-floes of the Arctic. The boat was 
surrounded on three sides, but on the other were 
floating islands and irregular tongues and fragments, 
which, though numerous, still afforded prospect of 
escape. The men were got out and put in a kind 
of towing-harness, and a mule also was landed, for 
the surface was sometimes strong enough even to 
support grazing cattle and the native huts. But 
these assistants floundered painfully along — one of 
the men being only saved from sinking out of sight 
by the personal bravery of Walter — and very slow 
progress was made. 

Meantime, the boats had been put in as good a 
state of defence as possible. Suddenly the fog 
lifted and showed that this were a precaution by no 
means thrown away, for the enemy were approach- 
ing. They had by some means secured three 


FROM CAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 241 


bateaux of their own, besides a number of small 
boats. Their large craft could not approach close- 
ly. it is true, for the same reason that prevented 
Walter’s progress, but no such limitation hindered 
the light proas and chalupas ; these darted hither 
and thither at will. 

Corcovedo disembarked on the chinampa a large 
force, in charge of experienced guides. His men 
avoided the weaker spots, screened themselves in 
the tall rushes, and, when they had come within 
range, even crawled on their hands and knees. Don 
Walter’s foremost boat, making a desperate push 
under dread of impending capture, finally broke 
through her embarrassments and escaped in to the 
open lake. He signalled her not to attempt to ren- 
der him assistance, but to look out for her own safety. 

The combat could have only one possible issue. 
Adversaries swarmed on nearly all sides in the 
light boats, and those on the land presently 
sprang up and charged with fierce yells ; they en- 
tered at the bow, the stern, and amidships, all at 
the same moment. If thrown back, they were 
driven on again by the swords of their leaders, 
whom a taste of the treasure had made like raven- 
ing wolves. So this strange combat raged in the 
marshes, and many men fell in death among the 
16 


242 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


fragrant flowers through which they had crawled in 
their energy of pursuit. Don Walter recognized 
some of the very men, of the Third Battalion of 
the Line, who had made the insolent foray into the 
garden the day he was with Amy. Pablo drew 
himself stealthily to his feet, among the bodies on 
the deck, and attempted to stab him, but was cut 
down in the act, and thus that revengeful servitor 
finally met his end. 

When the young commander saw that no fur- 
ther shred of hope remained, he caused a white 
flag to be raised on an oar from behind a portion 
of the cabin which he had kept clear as a last ref- 
uge. Having taken this step in the hope of pre- 
venting the effusion of more blood, he himself, as 
in supreme despair, plunged overboard. 

The victors waited for him to come up, with 
pieces at their shoulders ready to fire. But he did 
not reappear at all, and they made up their minds 
that in the disappointment of his utter overthrow 
he had put an end to himself. 

Don Walter, however, a powerful swimmer, hav- 
ing dived beneath the surface, had remained there 
so long a time that he was all but bursting, and 
then came up among the sedges on the border of a 
piece of the terra infirma many rods away. He 


FROM GAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 243 

presented but the merest fraction of his visage to 
the upper air, and even then shots were being fired 
in his direction in an experimental way. 

When his lungs were full once more, he dived 
again, this time with an original, almost incredible, 
plan. It was his purpose to swim directly beneath 
the chinampa, as legend related that bandits had 
sometimes done when pursued after their attacks 
on commerce in similar lakes. 

It was naturally an undertaking full of great 
peril. He propelled himself swiftly through the 
dark and murky waters ; vine-like tendrils and 
roots reaching nearly to the bottom caught him 
and impeded his progress ; above could be dimly 
made out convoluted masses like the Gorgon’s 
snaky locks. On first rising, he had miscalculated 
his distance : his head touched something viscid 
and trammelling. Consciousness grew vague ; 
surely now the end had come — and so he had 
ended thus ! the terrible drumming in his temples 
grew fainter, the suffocation less painful ; his mo- 
tions were weak. And then, and then — with gasps 
that seemed as if they must rend a human frame 
asunder, he breathed again ; he no longer stran- 
gled ; he saw the dear sun : never had he thought 
to look upon it more. 


244 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


Lilies yellow and white, scarlet poppies, and the 
scarlet water-pepper spangled the surface on which 
he dragged himself out to rest his weary limbs, 
and the broken spaces of water reflecting the blue 
sky contrasted tenderly with the soft green of the 
vegetation : how could heaven ever permit lust of 
gold, suffering and slaughter, in so smiling a pros- 
pect ? 

When Don Walter was finally received on board 
the remaining boat, he was more like one from the 
dead than a living man. They had been about to 
turn away and abandon the scene, believing not a 
soul had escaped, when he came swimming and hail- 
ing them, a long distance out from the so-called land. 

This boat, commanded by Antonio Gassol, had 
also a consort. Perez in person had come out with 
another boat, of small size, and containing few 
men, but these were all that could be spared from 
Eio Frio. They put in to the little island of La 
Copay a solid granite rock containing a cup-like 
crater. The enemy could be seen transferring the 
bags of gold and their prisoners to one of their 
craft, leaving their unwieldy prize where it lay. 
Perez was for abandoning what they had lost, 
great as it was, and retreating to save what still 
remained to them. 


FROM OAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 245 

“ I regret it beyond measure,” said he, “ and I 
am the last man in the world to give it up while a 
single chance offers, but I bow to the inevitable, 
and there is not a thing we can do.” 

“ No, no ! I will never give it up ! I cannot give 
it up ! ” cried Walter, in an agony of protest. “ It 
is easy for you to advise, you who have nothing at 
stake. I will die first ! it is my life ; it is my 
soul ! Oh, why did I not die when I was so very 
near to death ? ” 

He wished to fortify the island and await attack 
there till Kaufmann could be communicated with 
in the mountains and brought to join them in an 
offensive movement. 

“ They will not attack us,” said Perez. “ In my 
opinion, they will go down the lake, content for the 
present with what they have, and will take no more 
risks upon it.” 

All the indications seemed to confirm what he 
said. The hamlet at the foot of the rocky peak 
was a peaceful place, with a couple of ancient palm- 
trees growing beside its small church, and the 
water off the shore deep and clear. Its principal 
industry was the making of mats from the rushes 
of the lake. Walter saw an Indian girl go in a 
chalupa and deposit some of these in a canoa — of a 


246 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


much swifter build than most of its class — already 
partly loaded with them. Instantly a daring new 
conception flashed into his craving mind. 

“ Let us lure them on,” he proposed to Perez — 
“ tempt them with the prospect of getting the rest 
of the treasure also. You and Gassol must pre- 
tend to fly and draw the others after you, and I in 
the swift boat will play the lame duck with Corco- 
vedo and then fall upon him by surprise and capt- 
ure him.” 

“ They "will see through the trick,” rejoined 
Perez : “ they won’t be taken in by it.” 

He gave in his adhesion, however, to a plan of 
which he disapproved, and prepared to carry out 
his part in it with a kind of gloomy cheerfulness. 
He was right in his predictions. Corcovedo, 
flushed with victory, was in fact drawn after them 
by the surprising spectacle of the much weaker 
party awkwardly coming out as if to attack him. 
He baffled them by keeping his small flotilla well 
together, however, and then they had really to fly. 

At nightfall, wholly discomfited, they reached 
the landing-place from which they were to start 
for Rio Frio. 

But under cover of the dark night Walter made 
one last desperate unheard-of attempt. With a 


FROM OAMPO FLORIDO TO LAKE JORNADA. 247 

picked crew, who could hardly have known how 
mad their enterprise was, and rowing with muffled 
oars, he pulled away and found Corcovedo’s bateau 
at some distance from the others. He fell upon it 
with such valor and fury, bom of his despair, that 
nothing could stand before him. In the uncer- 
tainty as to whom it was they had to deal with, the 
other boats fell into a panic and were unable to 
render any assistance. Don Walter, scarcely able 
himself to credit so great a good fortune, found 
himself once more the master of all his treasures, 
together with the prisoners who had been taken. 
No wild, unreasonable enterprise was ever crowned 
with happier success. 

Seiior Corcovedo — unless drowned in the attempt 
— had escaped to one of the remaining craft. 


CHAPTER xvrr. 


THE LAST CAMPAIGN. 

The tragic hostility drawn out by Don Walter’s 
expedition had precipitated the revolution. The 
hour had struck at Rio Frio, the pronunciamiento 
had been issued, and the populace had ranged 
themselves for the struggle. It was an extraordi- 
nary proof of friendship for Walter on Perez’s part 
to have absented himself from affairs of the great- 
est moment at such a time, but he was found with 
his hands trebly full to compensate for it. 

“I had hoped to accompany you part of the 
way,” he said, “ but that will now be impossible. 
There is not, however, the least need of it. You 
have developed the true military instinct : it is you 
who ought to lead, and I to follow.” 

He had in his head an idea of a sort of Prae- 
torian guard, of foreigners — Kaufmann’s force 
might be the nucleus of it — which should support 
the Liberator when he was fairly established, to 
serve as a solid alliance against the instability of 


THE LAST CAMPAIGN. 


249 


his own countrymen, and he proposed to Walter a 
high command in it. 

“No, no,” responded the younger man: “all 
that I have done has been only a desperate sort 
of invention inspired by my necessities. It is 
not likely I could repeat it in any other cause. I 
should have no stomach for military life as a pro- 
fession.” 

“ Well, well, everybody to his taste.” 

The arrangements with Captain Carvajal had 
been successfully made. It was expected that Car- 
vajal himself would be met near Puebla, and from 
there he would send with them an accredited 
agent of his own to put them in possession of the 
vessel, to which a swift messenger had already 
been despatched with orders. General del Prado 
and his party had safely reached Rio Frio under 
the guidance of Perez, and after but brief delay 
had continued on their journey. Perez said that 
the General had shown himself much enraged at 
his involuntary identification with the revolution. 

“It was really a pretty good joke on the old 
fellow,” he said, laughing. “Oh, he was very 
abusive and insulting about it. He was even dis- 
posed to refuse the safe-conduct I offered him. ‘ I 
will not join your cause ; I am not of you ; I want 


250 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


nothing to do with it,’ he cried. ‘ Join whom or 
what yon please,’ answered I, c but at present this 
young lady must meet her ambassador.’ I think I 
should not have stood it so well had there been no 
one but himself ; but of course everything had to 
be put up with for the young lady’s sake.” 

“ And how were they likely to get on the rest of 
the way ? ” 

“ First-rate : the road offered no danger then, 
though I should not like to promise as much 
now.” 

Walter’s cavalcade was semi-attached to the train 
of a large military force moving toward the coast. 
It was surrounded with a peculiar consideration 
through the efforts of Perez. It was supposed, 
somehow, to be especially destined for the Lib- 
erator, whom the eyes of his partisans were every 
moment expecting in this part of the country. In 
any annoying or tedious situation it was only nec- 
essary to cry brusquely, “ Arms for the General ! 
Supplies for the General ! ” to have room promptly 
made for it and a commodious place opened to the 
front. 

There were plenty of wild spirits in the com- 
mand, however, upon whom it was necessary to 
keep an ever-vigilant eye. They would have been 


THE LAST CAMPAIGN. 


251 


glad at any moment to plunder the haciendas along 
the way, but such license must have resulted in 
disaster, and Walter repressed it with prudent se- 
verity. A hot fire of revolution began to flame up 
around the treasure-train as it proceeded. It had 
to be almost constantly in line of battle, for there 
was no telling at what point the danger would 
break out. Puebla had expelled its garrison and 
declared for the insurrection; Tlaxcala was in a 
state of siege ; and more or less successful revolt 
was heard all along the line as far as Orizaba and 
even Cordoba. 

The lovely peak of Orizaba at length hove in 
sight, its snowy top showing above a rugged mass 
of rosy red amid a fertile green landscape. At the 
station of Esperanza, Walter overtook most unex- 
pected friends. General del Prado had indeed got 
himself into trouble by his abusive tongue. It ap- 
peared that the enterprising Captain Carvajal had 
employed his leisure in a small operation on his 
own account. He had seized the railway train on 
one of its last downward trips, in spite of a semi- 
agreement between the contending parties that it 
should be exempt from capture, and held the pas- 
sengers for ransom. Most of them were let go, 
but General del Prado and his party were held — 


252 


TIIE YELLOW SNAKE . 


the General acting upon the theory that even the 
reticence of common prudence in his talk would 
be construed as acquiescing in his apparent treach- 
ery. 

It required but a word from Walter to Carvajal, 
in the peculiar relation in which they now stood to 
each other, to have them released. It was not yet 
too late: the American minister had not sailed, 
and they were sent on to him with some apologies 
and a strong escort to Cordoba. He was awaiting 
at that pleasant town, situated on high ground 
about the dangerous heats of the Tierra Caliente , 
the departure of the steamer. 

Amy had again but a brief glimpse of Walter. 
She saw him, resolute, marshal-looking, leading 
his men, and was impressed to the utmost with a 
sense of her own feebleness at the sight of that 
strong masculine energy. Ever since they had 
parted in the garden she had been thinking, think- 
ing, thinking. Was she to go back to New York 
and sum up, as the result of it all, simply that she 
had been kissed by a handsome man in Mexico ? 
She tingled with shame and blushed with pleasure 
at the same moment. 

“ Did he kiss me as men will kiss almost any 
silly girl who will let them?” she demanded of 


THE LAST CAMPAIGN, 


253 


herself, “ or can I expect — expect Surely lie 

is too honorable to have treated me so, unless he 
meant to express a tender affection.” 

As to Don Walter, a sort of sternness had settled 
upon him, as a result of his incessant battles, labors, 
and hair-breadth escapes, and he had at the moment 
little earnest thought for anything outside of his 
project. So great were the difficulties that had 
risen all around him, and so great those that might 
easily yet remain, that he thought it impossible he 
should ever get out of the country with his gold. 
It was like a presentiment. He knew he should be 
stopped, if even at the last moment, and wrecked 
as it were in port. He only said, at parting, “ If 
anything should happen to me — if I should never 

come back ” but, seeing her face blanch, “ What 

nonsense ! we shall meet very soon in New York.” 

What real warrant had he for such uneasiness, 
now that he was so near the coast? The most 
definite one he could formulate was that his men, 
finding he delivered no supplies and had no con- 
nection with any real strategic movement, might at 
last divine the truth, and fall upon him to despoil 
him of his treasure. What meant the evasive un- 
canny look he thought he surprised sometimes in 
the eyes of Antonio Gassol ? Treason had no part 


254 


TEE YELLOW SNAKE . 


in the expedition thus far. Surely Gassol, the 
trusty lieutenant and efficient helper, had not 
learned the secret and begun to cherish thoughts 
of playing him false ? 

As to supplies, why should they not appear to 
be delivered on shipboard, to be used in operations 
along the coast? He soon showed, in fact, an 
order from the Liberator to this effect, procured 
for him by the good offices of Perez and brought 
by a courier. This was offered as his reason for 
separating from the expeditionary troops. These 
latter were to bide awhile at Cordoba, to await the 
result of some Machiavellian schemes which had 
for their object the opening of the gates of Yera 
Cruz, which still adhered to the government. 
Naturally, Walter could not enter Yera Cruz with 
them even if the bargain were successful ; for what 
he carried was not of a sort to pass the eyes of the 
custom-house officers, and one set of custom-house 
officers was certain to be succeeded by another. 

The mule-bells of his winding train tinkled 
through dark tropical forests that inspired reflection 
and awe, amid plantations of coffee and pineapple, 
beneath rich parasitic growths of orchid and bro- 
melia, and post-hamlets, with monumental decayed 
churches, where Indian women with trays of fruit 


TEE LAST CAMPAIGN*. 


255 


on their heads, ignorant of the wars, gave them 
smiling greeting. The second day after separating 
from the troops, they came to a small river, which 
they crossed by means of a basket suspended on a 
raw-hide cable, the animals swimming. Farther 
up could be seen an ingenious boldly-arched foot- 
bridge made of grape-vines swung from tree to 
tree. At this place they heard some heavy cannon- 
shots from the direction of Yera Cruz, to the north- 
ward of which they had taken their course. They 
at first thought the city might have been attacked, 
but the firing was of too short duration. 

Antonio Gassol acted in an odd way at the river, 
seeming, in Walter’s nervous fancy, to keep back 
on the rearward bank with a number of the laden 
mules, while all the rest went forward. The young 
commander felt that his suspicions were highly un- 
just, but broke up, notwithstanding, any possible 
project of this kind. He was also warned by the 
agent of Carvajal of some peculiar doings; and he 
happened upon Gassol in a little group of men con- 
ferring earnestly, who slunk away at sight of him 
almost as if detected in something guilty. They 
seemed to be chiefly those who had been held as 
prisoners at Lake Jornada, and who might thus have 
discovered the real contents of the bags ; yet, if they 


256 


THE YELLOW SHAKE. 


had done so, why had there been no evidence of it 
before ? After this his nervous dread grew upon 
him, and he surprised himself repeating the motto, 
“ If it be now, ’tis not to come ; if it be not now, 
yet it will come.” But there was nothing he could 
do, save to redouble his circumspection and dili- 
gence, and he endeavored to conduct himself in all 
respects just as usual. 

He sent Carvajal’s lieutenant and two of his own 
men to look out for the schooner, and if possible 
have her in readiness against his arrival. Pray 
heaven there had been no “ norther ” to blow her 
off the coast, he murmured. By great good fortune, 
they found her. The lieutenant boarded her, and 
came ashore again with some of the sailors, and the 
men returned to say that she was standing off and 
on along the shore, ready to respond to their wishes. 

That night, which was to be his final one in 
Mexico, he retired late. He could have slept but 
a little while — it seemed to him, so full of cares 
was he, that he had not slept at all — when he was 
suddenly awakened by the loud, discordant cry of 
a macaw in the branches over his head. 

There were shadowy forms of men lurking in the 
background, and Antonio Gassol had been standing 
beside him with a machete , ready to strike. 


THE LAST CAMPAIGN. 


257 


Don Walter had set up his camp-bed under a 
hastily-formed shelter of branches, near the piled- 
up treasure, and in close proximity were some of 
the sailors from the schooner. He had never antic- 
ipated any personal harm, but only at most that 
some of the animals might be run off with their 
precious burdens ; but now he awoke to confront 
bold murder. 

The sudden cry of the macaw, as if a providen- 
tial note of interposition, had unsteadied the hand 
of the assassin for an instant, and in this brief in- 
stant again Walter found his opportunity. Catch- 
ing the central support of his cot, already some- 
what rickety from hard campaigning, he brought 
the whole to the ground, throwing himself with all 
his force at the same time to the outer side. The 
blow had therefore to descend a much longer dis- 
tance than calculated, and so miscarried. A second 
blow was resisted by muffling blankets, and resulted 
only in a flesh-wound on his shoulder, and before 
a third could be aimed Walter was on his feet with 
his revolver in his hand. 

The would-be assassin escaped the shot, and ran 
through the camp, rallying his compatriots after 
him, and all fled together to the deeper heart 

of the woods. They were but a small minority of 
17 


25 8 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


the force, the ringleaders having counted on win- 
ning over the rest after the first blows had been 
successfully struck and the advantage was appar- 
ent. The flight of Gassol would have ended the 
whole nefarious attempt, but that he was to receive 
aid from a most unexpected quarter. 

What it was can best be explained by returning 
briefly to the fortunes of Amy Colebrook. She 
entered Vera Cruz just as the plot for its betray- 
al had broken out in some active manifestations 
among the lower class. This plot was to fail, how- 
ever, through lacking the co-operation of the time- 
battered fortress of San Juan de Ulloa. The garri- 
son, on their insolated rock in the roadstead, a mile 
or two from shore, mutinied according to the plan, 
but their efforts were baffled by the intrepidity of 
a single person, their commanding officer. He 
loaded a cannon with grape and discharged it into 
their ranks as they advanced upon him. Again 
and again they moved forward, but still he fired 
with telling effect. Then, disheartened at their 
losses, and unwilling to delay further, they took 
numerous boats lying at the landing-place, and 
pulled off to aid their friends in the town. 

But the government adherents had gained cour- 
age from this apparent rebuff to deal vigorously 


THE LAST CAMPAIGN , . 


259 


with the revolt around them. They were ready 
drawn up in force at the edge of the quay, and re- 
ceived the boats with a destructive fire. Some 
begged for quarter, and were taken, others found- 
ered outright, and a few of those in the rear made 
off to the northward and succeeded in landing on 
the shore. As Amy’s steamer sailed out of port, 
the fusillade of this combat was her last view of 
that country so blessed by the bounty of nature, 
but marred by the perversity of man. 

The mutineers from the boats took to the woods, 
there, after a brief season of wandering, they en- 
countered the band of Gassol, who, having happily 
made their acquaintance without coming to blows, 
proposed to them a new affair. Unscrupulous 
runagates as they were, they were readily taken by 
the promise it afforded. 

It was very early in the morning. Don Walter, 
feeling it impolitic to give his men too much time 
for reflection, had summoned them to begin loading 
the boats even before the last stars had paled from 
the sky. A little creek afforded a favorable point 
of embarkation and shelter for the boats. At dawn 
all hands were actively engaged at work, watched 
over only by a small guard. In this supreme mo- 
ment of deliverance arose perhaps a more immi- 


260 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


nent peril than any that had yet been encountered. 
The confederates burst from the woods in superior 
force and charged with shouts that inspired dis- 
may. 

By what beneficent happening was it, however, 
that a small body of sailors, who had ascended the 
creek to recover a boat that had drifted a little way 
up with the tide, were just then on their return ? 
They were in the thicket in such a way that it was 
possible for them to take the assailants at close 
quarters in both flank and rear. Their numbers 
were magnified by their concealment. Their 
wholly unexpected fire staggered the marauding 
ranks and stopped their progress. The men at the 
boats reformed behind trees, the mules, anything 
and everything that afforded a semblance of shel- 
ter, and the tables were quickly turned ; the fierce 
assailants were scattered right and left, and forced 
to fly in wild confusion, leaving a large number of 
slain upon the ground. 

Don Walter’s heart sickened within him at the 
sight of dead bodies once more. Here lay many of 
those who had fought bravely for him at Huetongo, 
at the Barranca, and at the lake. There lay, rid- 
dled with balls, the disfigured corpse of Antonio 
Gassol. He could not but think that this man, 


THE LAST CAMPAIGN. 


261 


of a good natural disposition, had meant to be all 
that was faithful and honest in his mission, but he 
had fluttered like a moth into the candle, and suc- 
cumbed to a temptation beyond the strength of his 
weak, human nature ; this fatal gold had drawn 
him on to madness and crime. For him, truly 
might the old tradition of ill-luck in the Yellow 
Snake have been deemed verified. 

There was no occasion now for further delay. 
The glorious light of rosy morning filled the sky 
and flushed the sea that lay like a floor beneath it, 
giving to the latter tender tints of pink and green ; 
and amid all these opalescent hues glowed the 
milky- white sails of the schooner, gently swelled 
with a favoring breeze. 

The violence of the winds and waves was yet to 
be encountered, it is true, but these were of little 
moment compared to the malevolence of men. 

For well-nigh a month he was tossed hither and 
yon, was beset by all the obstacles by which winged 
craft, at the mercy of the great deep, may be de- 
tained. Then, at last, he sailed up the long, beauti- 
ful bay, between the minor cities on either hand, 
joined the illimitable perspective of masts, and was 
at New York. 


CHAPTER XYIH. 


MINTED GOLD. 

New York, then, after unmeasured trials and 
tribulations — New York, to Don Walter, practically 
for the first time. 

The tall buildings of lower Broadway, with their 
fantastic skylines, suggested again his Barranca 
of Cimarron. He recognized almost at once the 
gilded letters that spelled out the name of the bank 
of which his father had been president, and which 
had been the principal scene of the disgrace. 
Who that did not know could have conceived any 
connection between this edifice amid the thick 
bustle of the great thoroughfare of the metropolis, 
with its ornate facade, its polished mahogany, and 
plate-glass, and its affable officials behind the 
counters, who had done business ever since, no 
doubt, upon strictly honest principles, and the 
dark, half -ruined house at Rosales where his youth 
had been passed ? His father had kept none of 
the embezzled funds for himself, it is true, but this 


MINTED GOLD. 


263 


though often weakly urged by some as a palliation, 
was none to Walter. His rigid ideas of integrity 
told him that the money had gone in reckless spec- 
ulations, of which others had had to take all the 
risks. Walter had first seen the name of the bank 
on some random old check-blank at Rosales, found 
in a worm-eaten cabinet that might almost have 
come down from the time of the Flood. A slight 
memorandum, retained from among his father’s 
papers, had long been his constant companion. It 
had served a sort of fetich and stimulus, too, in his 
labors, and now furnished an indication where to 
begin his work of restitution. He secured eminent 
counsel, and the survivors and heirs of survivors of 
“ The Great Ridgefield Defalcation ” of years long 
gone by soon began to hear of legal measures, and 
to receive queries that set many hearts beating 
with hope and pleasure. 

Walter’s wound in the shoulder had been aggra- 
vated by the voyage, but he allowed neither this 
suffering nor any other diversion to draw him away 
from his main object till every necessary step had 
been taken. The gold was conveyed from the hold 
of the schooner to the United States Assay Office. 
The rude smelting it had received would not do for 
its final state, and it had to be subjected anew to 


264 : 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


treatment. Pending this, however, certificates to a 
large amount of its value were issued, which could 
be used in the negotiations. At length, when every 
possible preliminary had been attended to, then, 
and then only, he succumbed to illness beyond his 
strength to resist. He would have had himself 
taken to a hospital, but the head of the law firm to 
which he had committed his affairs would by no 
means listen to this. He was impressed with ad- 
miration by a magnanimity far beyond that met 
with in the ordinary range of practice, and con- 
veyed him to his own home instead, where, during 
a short but dangerous illness that followed, he was 
his only friend. 

Walter Arroyo, now Bidgefield, seemed to make 
it a sad sort of luxury to keep away from Amy. 
He let her know of his arrival and of his safety, 
but nothing further. She was there in the same 
city, and he might go to her at any moment. If 
he went, it would be but for one purpose ; and he 
did not wish to go till the money had been paid 
back to her family. But if he proposed to her now, 
would it not be exacting an unmanly advantage 
through some natural sense of obligation on her 
part? Surely his fancy was a little overwrought 
and morbid. He doubted whether the disgrace 


MINTED GOLD. 


265 


could ever be got rid of, whether the name could 
ever be cleared of the stigma so long attached to it. 

Then, too, one day he was greeted by a stagger- 
ing blow : the entire sum he had brought had been 
used up in the payment of the debt. He seemed 
to have made some sort of miscalculation : he was 
apprised from the mint that a considerable portion 
of the metal had fallen below the standard roughly 
fixed upon it in his estimate. As a consequence, 
instead of having a liberal sum left to draw upon, 
after all the obligations were met, nothing would 
remain for himself. He proceeded at once to find 
a more modest abode, and took steps to procure 
employment in his profession as an engineer. 

Nevertheless, for all his holding back, and for all 
his juggling with the dearest passion of his heart, 
he meant to see Amy, and was counting the very 
seconds till the moment arrived. An article ap- 
peared in one of the more temperate and dignified 
of the newspapers, giving some account of the 
whole affair. It was founded upon a statement by 
his counsel. That gentleman had only been kept 
from giving it to the press hitherto by Walter’s 
express prohibition, but now at last he boldly dis- 
regarded this. 

“I hold myself responsible,” he said, warmly. 


266 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ I have done it, perhaps, even at the risk of a vio- 
lation of confidence. Have you not been defeating 
your own end by the unostentatious course you 
have adopted, and by the obscurity in which you 
have chosen to shroud the source of the reimburse- 
ment even from all those who have enjoyed its 
benefits ? The atonement ought to have as much 
publicity as the original scandal.” 

“ But the terrible publicity of it,” objected the 
young man, though he was more than half con- 
vinced that the other was right. 

“ Oh, these things very soon pass over, and just 
leave a good general effect behind,” responded the 
lawyer, reassuringly. 

“ Those of our citizens who have reached middle 
life,” said the newspaper in question, “ will still 
recall the startling effect upon this community pro- 
duced by the failure and flight of the late Randolph 
Ridgefield. The magnitude of the interests in- 
volved made it the most notable event of the kind 
in financial history, and it is doubtful if it has ever 
been surpassed, even with our larger way of doing 
things in these times. The unfortunate Randolph 
Ridgefield died in poverty in Mexico. His son, 
Walter Ridgefield, Esq., a young man of great abil- 
ity and force of character, has meantime, by his 


MINTED GOLD. 


267 


own unaided industry, acquired a large fortune in 
that country. He lately arrived here, and, we learn 
upon the best authority, has devoted not a part 
only, but the whole of it, to making good the losses 
occasioned by the transactions of his father. He 
has even employed the services of expert detectives 
to find out remote and obscure heirs, to be reached 
in no other way, that not the smallest fraction of the 
debt might remain uncancelled. Within the past 
few days most of the money has been paid out 
over the counters of the Excelsior Bank, where it 
was deposited with a peculiar fitness, as Randolph 
Ridgefield was at the head of this institution at 
the time of the disaster. Several touching and 
pleasant incidents are reported in connection with 
the settlement of these ancient claims. Perhaps 
the most interesting of all will prove to be the re- 
payment of the numerous depositors of the old 
Ridgefield Savings Bank, the incidental collapse of 
which was one of the most painful features of the 
disaster. We may easily imagine the elation of 
the humble class of persons whose little all was 
swept away on that occasion to find their hard dol- 
lars restored to them. Many, no doubt, will find 
themselves raised from poverty and distress to 
comparative affluence. 


268 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


“ When we consider the great lapse of time, the 
absence of any legal responsibility on the part of 
the giver, and the vastness of the sum, a step of 
this kind cannot but arouse our warmest admiration. 
No completed evil can ever be wholly repaired, it 
is true ; but rarely can there have been so near an 
approach to entire reparation as that we chronicle 
to-day. The proceeding will no doubt seem quix- 
otic to that interesting class of our fellow-citizens 
who have betaken themselves just across the north- 
ern frontier and bid fair by their numbers and 
wealth to found there a new aristocracy based upon 
spoliation like that of mediaeval barons, but we are 
free to confess that, in our view, no more generous 
action, and none more calculated to have an invig- 
orating effect upon too lax notions of commercial 
morality, has been performed in our times.” 

The day after this, there arrived for Walter, 
through his banker, a note from Amy, saying : 

“Was it you , then? It seems too incredible. 
Will you not come, if only for a moment, to let me 
thank you for your great kindness ? ” 

Then finally Walter went to the Bella Yista 
Flats, near the Park. The Bella Yista had on a 
small scale many of the external adornments of 
more costly and ambitious flats, with none of their 


MINTED GOLD. 


269 


conveniences. Its rooms were small and many of 
them dark, the Colebrooks were high indeed in the 
air, and there was no elevator. Their rooms, too, 
showed some disorder. 

“Do not look at anything,” protested Amy. 
“ We are moving already. We have danced, wept, 
and prayed with joy and gratitude over our good 
fortune, and are getting ready to reap the benefit 
of it without an instant’s further loss of time.” 

Don Walter met her mother, and her younger 
sisters and an older one also, with all of whom he 
was well pleased, while they were inclined to look 
upon him as if he were a god but very thinly dis- 
guised, instead of a common mortal. He met, too, 
her friend Emily Winchester, the “ Dear Emily ” 
of the letters from Mexico, and the one who had 
charged herself with remailing his letters when he 
had pretended to be in New York. She also was 
rather pretty in her dark type, forming a consid- 
erable contrast to that of Amy. She went away 
very shortly, leaving behind for Amy an ever-so- 
slightly-meaning smile, at which the latter blushed 
very deeply, though there was no chance that Wal- 
ter could have seen it. 

He found it a little difficult to conceive of Amy 
apart from the bloom, the fragrance, the stately 


270 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


terraces, and plashing fountains of Las Delicias, 
with which she seemed to be thoroughly identified : 
still, there was a new charm of domesticity about 
her in these surroundings. 

“ What a delight it is to me to see you again ! ” 
he exclaimed, with unavoidable enthusiasm, and 
taking her hand warmly. “Will you let me tell 
you how beautiful you are ? ” 

“ If you can be so wholly reckless of the truth.” 
“We have been through so much together, it 
seems as if we ought never to part again. How 
many other girls would have done for me all that 
you have done ? ” 

“ Some millions, I suppose.” 

“ No, no ; not one.” 

“ But what is this dreadful story I hear about 
your having nothing left for yourself ? ” 

“It is true. With the shrinkage at the Mint, 
the extraordinary expenses, the portion still left 
behind at Lake Jornada, and the smaller portion 
that in spite of us fell into the hands of the enemy, 
all is gone. The surplus I had counted upon has 
disappeared.” 

“ No, no ! I will not have it so ! it is a shame ! ” 
protested Amy, indignantly. “I cannot answer 
even for the rest of the Colebrook family, who may 


MINTED GOLD. 


271 


be inclined to selfishness — though they shall hear 
from me at once — but do you think I, who saw 
your hardships and your bravery, will take my 
share while you are in want ? No, indeed : so much 
at least still remains to you.” 

“ It is no more than I might have expected from 
your generous heart, but I assure you honestly I 
do not miss the gold ; I never really felt that it was 
mine, and when I think of all the blood and suffer- 
ing that rest upon it, I am very certain I shall be 
better off without it.” 

“ Such unselfishness is not quite in human nat- 
ure. Take care ! I do not like people who are too 
unselfish ; they are apt to die young. If you are 
not moderately human, I shall not approve of 
you.” 

“ Of course, if I had known how it was coming 
out, I might have made some different arrange- 
ment — perhaps have paid only a part of the inter- 
est ; but what is done is done, and I am not sorry.” 

“ No, it is too wicked. I will not have it so.” 

“ You see, I come here and talk of my woes, in 
spite of the obvious suggestiveness of the thing,” 
pursued Walter, smiling. “ There is just one way 
that occurs to me : we might share it — if you were 
willing.” 


272 


THE YELLOW SNAKE . 


His hearer colored again most deeply, this time 
with the best of reason. 

“ After all, I do not feel poor,” he continued, 
hopefully. “ I shall be ridden by no more night- 
mare ; I am a free man, I begin the world on even 
terms. If you thought well of the name of Ridge- 
field, now, I would like to say — I would like to tell 
you how very dearly I love you. Had you ever 
suspected it might be so ? ” 

The tangles of her bright hair drifted against 
his temples, and her soft cheek rested, as once be- 
fore, against his bronzed one that had known so 
many hardships. 

“ When you kissed me, in Mexico, I felt — I 
hoped — you were fond of me. But you tried me 
terribly, do you know ? ” 

“ Yes, yes, I must have done so. How can you 
forgive me ? ” 

Letters came to them from Mexico. The good 
aunts Arroyo wrote to Walter, “ You have a sweet 
bride; we remember her very well: you are for- 
tunate in your marriage, and when peace is de- 
clared — for come some time it will — you must 
bring her here to see us, child of our hearts.” 

They wrote that the country was still tom by 
bitter strife, and neither of the great parties 


MINTED GOLD . 


273 


seemed strong enough to put the other down. 
The star of Captain Perez, they said — their tone 
about him was not disrespectful now — was in the 
ascendant. He had risen more and more to prom- 
inence in the Liberator’s forces, till he might be 
ranked as next in authority to the commander him- 
self. The Jefe Politico had been killed in a skir- 
mish near the Barranca of Cimarron, over which 
district Perez had still maintained some supervis- 
ion. The story recalled the fate of the ancient King 
William Rufus in the New r Forest : his body had 
been found in the woods by a charcoal-burner. Wal- 
ter fancied he divined the reason of the Jefe’s pres- 
ence there, and he breathed freer henceforth at the 
thought that this eager spirit was no longer to be 
feared as a prowler among the caves of the treasure. 

Not long after their wedding-day there came a 
letter from Dona Beatriz, forwarded by an inter- 
mediary. She was dead. And her end, according 
to the report of Sister Praxedis, had been very 
peaceful and edifying. The Senoritas Arroyo also 
wrote about her death, saying, “ She was regardless 
of her health in the practice of her strict devotions. 
She fell ill just about the time the news of your 
marriage came.” 

Amy’s eyes were moist with tears as she in her 
18 


274 


THE YELLOW SNAKE. 


turn read this letter. It was the brief, last mes- 
sage of one feeling that death was near. “ I was 
not strong enough to withstand the temptations of 
this world,” it read, “and in leaving it I have but 
one regret — that I may have been a stumbling- 
block and an evil influence in your path. If God 
in his infinite goodness should ever pardon my 
great transgression, I would pray that my happi- 
ness in heaven might be to hover over you with the 
warmth of a pure and hallowed affection, free from 
desire that you should ever know or return it, and 
to guard you from some pain or trouble that might 
otherwise come to you.” 

'It read like a strain of mournful music. It was 
a cry of hapless love that had been its own destruc- 
tion, an appeal to that life beyond where all the 
baffled hopes of this world may yet be made good. 

“ She loved you more than I,” murmured Amy, 
sadly. 

Now in due time came news that the political sky 
was brightening, and it began to seem probable that 
the treasure-beds in the Barranca of Cimarron and 
the gold left buried on the shores of Lake Jornada 
could once more be visited. 


THE END. 


LIST OF NEW BOOKS 

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A thoroughly American story of stirring events in a Western 
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The hero and heroine meet on a vessel returning to England from 
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the man agrees to take her to his home without a marriage ceremo ay. 
The consequences of the departure from custom makes an interest ng 
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By W. E. NORRIS. 

His Grace. i2ino, 278 pages. Cloth binding. 50c. 

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An old Dumas story, but quite new to the American public. The 
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In this collection of the gems of Ouida’s storiettes, the author takes 
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This is a pathetic story of an old bookseller who, having no idea of 
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binding. 50c. 

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Belle Rose — A Romance of the Cloak and Sword. 
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The title-story of the present volume, as well as those which follow 
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A Latin-Quarter Courtship, and other stories. i 2 mo, 
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Tl" first story covers 190 pages, and is a charmingly told tale of 
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two latter, of course, fall in love with each other. 


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Averil Rosa Nouchette Carey 

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Cardinal Sin, A Hugh Conway 

Consequences Egerton Castle 

Cruise of the Cachelot, The- -Frank T* Bullen 

Dead Secret, The Wilkie Collins 

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Doctor Jack St* George Rathbome 

Dugdale Millions, The Barclay North 

Facing the Footlights Florence Marryat 

Fatal Silence, A Florence Marryat 

Fever of Life, The Fergus Hume 

First Violin, The - - Jessie Fothergill 

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In Strange Company Guy Boothby 

Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson 

Little Cuban Rebel, The Edna Winfield 

Living or Dead Hugh Conway 

Lorna Doone R* D. Blackmore 

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Man in Possession “Rita” 

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That Beautiful Wretch William Black 

Thelma Marie Corelli 

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While aiming to avoid the extravagant and sensational, the stories 
contain enough thrilling incidents to please the lad who loves action 
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with rival clubs and teams make very exciting and absorbing reading ; 
and few boys with warm blood in their veins, having once begun the 

E erusal of one of these books, will willingly lay it down till it is 
nished. 

I — The Rockspur Nine* A story of Baseball. 

2 — The Rockspur Eleven* A Story of Football. 

3 — The Rockspur Rivals* A Story of Winter Sports. 

Each volume contains about 300 pages, i2mo in 
size, cloth binding, per volume, $1.00 


THE FRANK MERRIWELL SERIES 

BY BURT L. STANDISH 

For a great number of years Frank Merriwell has been a name to 
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have never before been published in book form. It was in response 
to a clamorous demand for the Frank Merriwell stories in this form 
that this series was prepared. These are unique among boys’ books ; 
indeed, so filled are they with incident and action of every kind that 
it would be impossible to give here any adequate idea of what they 
contain. Frank Merriwell was no ordinary boy, and it falls to the lot 
of very few fellows to have as much fun and strenuousness crowded 
into his school life as will be found in this all-absorbing history. 

The first titles in the series are : 

Frank Merriwell's School Days* Illustrated. i2mo, 
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Frank MemwelPs Chums* Illustrated. i2mo, 302 pages. 
Cloth binding. (In press.) • $1.00 

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